Vestcor Inc Lowers Holdings in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

Vestcor Inc lessened its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN - Free Report) by 36.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 83,663 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 47,848 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc owned about 0.14% of Werner Enterprises worth $3,229,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WERN. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Werner Enterprises in the second quarter valued at $29,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Werner Enterprises during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Werner Enterprises in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Werner Enterprises by 145.7% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 801 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Werner Enterprises by 209.6% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,158 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 784 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.32% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WERN. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $33.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on Werner Enterprises in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a "sell" rating and a $34.00 price target on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Werner Enterprises presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $36.57.

Werner Enterprises Stock Up 1.3 %

WERN traded up $0.50 on Wednesday, hitting $40.12. The company had a trading volume of 550,705 shares, compared to its average volume of 736,659. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.12 and a 52-week high of $43.26. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.96, a P/E/G ratio of 33.89 and a beta of 0.82.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The transportation company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.21 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $745.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $765.24 million. Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 1.48% and a return on equity of 3.58%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 0.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. Werner Enterprises's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.71%.

About Werner Enterprises

Werner Enterprises, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in transporting truckload shipments of general commodities in interstate and intrastate commerce in the United States, Mexico, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Truckload Transportation Services and Werner Logistics.