Short Interest in Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) Decreases By 20.0%

Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,280,000 shares, a decrease of 20.0% from the January 31st total of 4,100,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 651,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.0 days. Currently, 5.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Werner Enterprises

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,730,457 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $241,758,000 after purchasing an additional 32,228 shares in the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 24.5% during the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 3,943,893 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $152,195,000 after purchasing an additional 776,277 shares in the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 2,121,696 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $76,211,000 after purchasing an additional 19,370 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,987,187 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $71,380,000 after purchasing an additional 234,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,660,846 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $59,010,000 after purchasing an additional 143,953 shares in the last quarter. 89.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Werner Enterprises Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of WERN opened at $31.55 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.36 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.02. Werner Enterprises has a twelve month low of $30.90 and a twelve month high of $42.48.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The transportation company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.15). Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 1.13% and a return on equity of 2.27%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Werner Enterprises will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. Werner Enterprises’s payout ratio is currently 101.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on WERN shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Susquehanna raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a “negative” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Werner Enterprises presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.29.

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.