Short Interest in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Declines By 14.4%

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) saw a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,430,000 shares, a decline of 14.4% from the March 15th total of 1,670,000 shares. Approximately 3.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 305,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.7 days.

Heartland Express Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of HTLD stock opened at $10.68 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $12.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.04. Heartland Express has a twelve month low of $10.47 and a twelve month high of $17.08. The company has a market capitalization of $844.04 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.33 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by $0.16. Heartland Express had a net margin of 1.22% and a return on equity of 1.71%. The company had revenue of $275.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $293.36 million. Research analysts forecast that Heartland Express will post -0.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 26th were paid a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 25th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on HTLD. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 12th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Heartland Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 14,933 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $12.39 per share, for a total transaction of $185,019.87. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 159,865 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,980,727.35. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 39.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY increased its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY now owns 2,889 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 613 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Middle East FZE purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth about $51,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Express during the 1st quarter worth about $102,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 287.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,737 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 5,740 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,495 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 747 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Company Profile

Heartland Express, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a short-to-medium, and long-haul truckload carrier in the United States and Canada. It primarily provides nationwide asset-based dry van truckload service for shippers; cross-border freight and other transportation services; and temperature-controlled truckload services.