Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) CEO Michael J. Gerdin Purchases 31,200 Shares

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 31,200 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $9.97 per share, for a total transaction of $311,064.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 88,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $886,422.73. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Heartland Express Stock Up 4.6 %

HTLD stock opened at $10.40 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Heartland Express, Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.63 and a twelve month high of $17.08. The company’s 50 day moving average is $11.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.68. The stock has a market cap of $821.91 million, a P/E ratio of -61.18 and a beta of 0.62.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $270.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $263.92 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 1.50% and a negative net margin of 1.13%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.16 EPS. Research analysts expect that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 26th were given a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 25th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -47.06%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heartland Express

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HTLD. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Heartland Express by 133.2% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 18,082 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 10,327 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Heartland Express by 99.2% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,224,494 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $17,988,000 after acquiring an additional 609,769 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Heartland Express by 7.5% during the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 23,644 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,654 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Heartland Express by 5.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 29,391 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $432,000 after acquiring an additional 1,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP purchased a new position in Heartland Express in the 3rd quarter valued at $612,000. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 12th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.25.

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.