Werner Enterprises, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.14 (NASDAQ:WERN)

Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 12th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be paid a dividend of 0.14 per share by the transportation company on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd.

Werner Enterprises has increased its dividend payment by an average of 6.9% annually over the last three years. Werner Enterprises has a payout ratio of 41.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Werner Enterprises to earn $1.55 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 36.1%.

Werner Enterprises Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of WERN opened at $35.91 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $38.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.50. Werner Enterprises has a twelve month low of $33.12 and a twelve month high of $42.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.19, a PEG ratio of 33.43 and a beta of 0.82.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $765.24 million. Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 1.48% and a return on equity of 3.58%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Werner Enterprises will post 0.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WERN shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Werner Enterprises in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “sell” rating and a $34.00 price target for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $33.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.57.

Werner Enterprises Company 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.