Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Shares Gap Up on Insider Buying Activity

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) shares gapped up prior to trading on Monday after an insider bought additional shares in the company. The stock had previously closed at $10.77, but opened at $11.21. Heartland Express shares last traded at $11.01, with a volume of 115,030 shares changing hands.

Specifically, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust acquired 14,933 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $12.39 per share, for a total transaction of $185,019.87. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 159,865 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,980,727.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Heartland Express news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 14,933 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $12.39 per share, for a total transaction of $185,019.87. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 159,865 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,980,727.35. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 66,000 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $10.45 per share, with a total value of $689,700.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 518,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,419,307.30. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 403,334 shares of company stock worth $4,227,955 over the last quarter. Insiders own 39.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HTLD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective 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 price target on 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. 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.25.

Heartland Express Trading Up 1.2 %

The company has a market capitalization of $861.43 million, a P/E ratio of -64.12 and a beta of 0.66. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.57.

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

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 26th were given a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 25th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently -47.06%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 132.8% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 225,713 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,695,000 after buying an additional 128,758 shares during the period. Lesa Sroufe & Co raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Lesa Sroufe & Co now owns 113,694 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,358,000 after buying an additional 3,467 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 292.4% during the 1st quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 108,999 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,301,000 after buying an additional 81,220 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 74.1% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,218 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $277,000 after buying an additional 9,884 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 605,175 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $7,226,000 after buying an additional 4,955 shares during the period. 53.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.