Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $379,000 Stock Holdings in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,561 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 970 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Heartland Express were worth $379,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in Heartland Express during the third quarter valued at approximately $244,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the third quarter worth $258,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 133.2% in 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. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the fourth quarter worth $327,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 7.5% in 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HTLD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered 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 note on Monday, February 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.25.

Insider Activity at Heartland Express

In other news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 31,200 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,909 shares in the company, valued at $886,422.73. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 66,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $10.45 per share, for a total transaction of $689,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,594 shares in the company, valued at $5,419,307.30. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 31,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The shares were bought at an average price of $9.97 per share, with a total value of $311,064.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $886,422.73. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 295,729 shares of company stock valued at $3,072,787 over the last ninety days. 39.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Heartland Express Stock Up 4.6 %

Shares of HTLD stock opened at $10.40 on Thursday. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $9.63 and a one year high of $17.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $11.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

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

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 26th were issued a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 is -47.06%.

About Heartland Express

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.