Michael J. Gerdin Acquires 93,496 Shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Stock

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 93,496 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $10.81 per share, for a total transaction of $1,010,691.76. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 290,010 shares in the company, valued at $3,135,008.10. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

HTLD stock opened at $10.77 on Friday. Heartland Express, Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.63 and a twelve month high of $17.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market cap of $851.15 million, a P/E ratio of -63.35 and a beta of 0.66. The business’s fifty day moving average is $11.34 and its 200-day moving average is $12.61.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $270.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $263.92 million. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 1.13% and a negative return on equity of 1.50%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.16 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.13 EPS for the current year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 26th were issued a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 25th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently -47.06%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heartland Express

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of HTLD. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 7,944,508 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $116,705,000 after buying an additional 55,720 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Heartland Express by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,172,549 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $45,241,000 after acquiring an additional 264,313 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Heartland Express by 99.2% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,224,494 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $17,988,000 after acquiring an additional 609,769 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 704,437 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,045,000 after acquiring an additional 31,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Heartland Express by 7.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 695,582 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,218,000 after purchasing an additional 48,026 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Heartland Express from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Barclays decreased their price target on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.25.

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.