Norden Group LLC Acquires 2,555 Shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

Norden Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 20.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 14,959 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,555 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC’s holdings in Werner Enterprises were worth $537,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 20,430 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $734,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 252,711 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $9,077,000 after acquiring an additional 9,219 shares in the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 379,236 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $13,622,000 after acquiring an additional 16,450 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Werner Enterprises by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,168 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $222,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Werner Enterprises by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 299,987 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,776,000 after purchasing an additional 8,385 shares in the last quarter. 89.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WERN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Susquehanna raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a “negative” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.29.

Werner Enterprises Stock Performance

Shares of WERN stock opened at $31.97 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.13 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $35.37 and its 200 day moving average is $37.10. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.87 and a 12 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 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Werner Enterprises Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Monday, April 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. Werner Enterprises’s payout ratio is currently 101.82%.

Werner Enterprises Profile

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.