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

Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 19th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be given a dividend of 0.14 per share by the transportation company on Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%.

Werner Enterprises has increased its dividend by an average of 6.8% annually over the last three years. Werner Enterprises has a payout ratio of 26.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Werner Enterprises to earn $2.22 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 25.2%.

Werner Enterprises Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of Werner Enterprises stock opened at $34.16 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 1.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.11 and a beta of 0.84. Werner Enterprises has a 52-week low of $33.12 and a 52-week high of $42.48. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.32.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The transportation company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Werner Enterprises will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Werner Enterprises from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Werner Enterprises from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Werner Enterprises from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Werner Enterprises from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Werner Enterprises from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.29.

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.