Michael J. Gerdin Purchases 14,109 Shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Stock

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 14,109 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $10.24 per share, with a total value of $144,476.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 196,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,012,303.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Heartland Express Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of HTLD opened at $10.77 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $851.15 million, a P/E ratio of -63.35 and a beta of 0.66. Heartland Express, Inc. has a one year low of $9.63 and a one year high of $17.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $11.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.61.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $270.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 revenue for the quarter was down 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.16 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.13 EPS for the current fiscal 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. 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 Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in Heartland Express by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 26,561 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 970 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in Heartland Express by 1.0% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 104,100 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,529,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Heartland Express by 5.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 29,391 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $432,000 after buying an additional 1,497 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in Heartland Express by 7.5% during the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 23,644 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $347,000 after buying an additional 1,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in Heartland Express by 10.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 27,878 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $409,000 after buying an additional 2,693 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on HTLD shares. Barclays lowered their price target on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased 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. StockNews.com downgraded Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.