Werner (WERN) Rides on Dividends & Buybacks Despite Expenses
Werner Enterprises, Inc. WERN is benefiting from its shareholder-friendly initiatives. The company’s efforts to boost its shareholder value via dividend payouts and share repurchases are commendable.
WERN has a consistent record of paying out dividends since 1987. The latest dividend hike was in May 2023, when it raised the quarterly dividend by 7.7% to 14 cents per share (56 cents annually).
WERN has been consistently making efforts to reward its shareholders through dividends and share buybacks, which are encouraging. In May 2022, WERN announced an 8.3% hike in the dividend to 13 cents per share (annualized 52 cents).
In first-quarter 2023, Werner paid out $8.22 million in dividends but did not repurchase any shares. As of Mar 31, 2023, WERN had 2.3 million shares remaining under its share repurchase authorization. In 2022, Werner paid out $32.2 million in dividends and repurchased shares worth $110.40 million. In 2021, Werner paid out $29.08 million in dividends and repurchased shares worth $104.44 million.
We believe that such shareholder-friendly initiatives boost investors’ confidence and positively impact the stock's bottom line. So far this past year, shares of Werner have gained 8% compared with the 21.3% rise of the industry it belongs to.
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On the flip side, rising operating expenses pose a threat to Werner’s bottom line. The company’s total operating expenses rose 14.4% to $779.3 million in the March-end quarter.
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
Ryanair currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks for investors interested in the Zacks Transportation sector are Copa Holdings CPA and CSX Corporation CSX. Copa Holdings sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and CSX carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Copa Holdings has an expected earnings growth rate of 75.42% for the current year. CPA delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 14.60%, on average.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CPA’s current-year earnings has improved 25.5% over the past 90 days. Shares of CPA have soared 32.5% over the past six months.
CSX has an expected earnings growth rate of 2.09% for the current year. CSX delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 7.76%, on average.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CSX’s current-year earnings has improved 4.3% over the past 90 days. Shares of CSX have risen 6.6% over the past six months.
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