Nuance Investments LLC Has $70.86 Million Stock Holdings in Werner Enterprises, Inc. $WERN

Nuance Investments LLC lessened its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) by 8.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,589,790 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 243,864 shares during the quarter. Werner Enterprises comprises approximately 5.5% of Nuance Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Nuance Investments LLC’s holdings in Werner Enterprises were worth $70,857,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WERN. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 1,642.2% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 620,855 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $18,191,000 after buying an additional 585,218 shares during the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Werner Enterprises during the first quarter valued at about $9,102,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Werner Enterprises during the first quarter worth about $6,227,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its stake in shares of Werner Enterprises by 182.3% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 327,057 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $9,583,000 after purchasing an additional 211,215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Werner Enterprises by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,170,527 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $63,596,000 after purchasing an additional 183,340 shares during the period. 89.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WERN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on Werner Enterprises from $27.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Werner Enterprises from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Werner Enterprises from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and seven have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Werner Enterprises currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $26.93.

Werner Enterprises Price Performance

Shares of WERN opened at $26.20 on Friday. Werner Enterprises, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.02 and a fifty-two week high of $42.48. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.53. The stock has a market cap of $1.57 billion, a PE ratio of 30.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.67.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The transportation company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.18). Werner Enterprises had a net margin of 1.77% and a return on equity of 0.92%. The business had revenue of $712.04 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $763.63 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.15 earnings per share. Werner Enterprises’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Werner Enterprises, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Werner Enterprises declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, August 11th that authorizes the company to buyback 5,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the transportation company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.