Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Major Shareholder Buys $86,875.86 in Stock

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 8,089 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $10.74 per share, for a total transaction of $86,875.86. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 849,078 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,119,097.72. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Large shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, April 29th, Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust acquired 93,496 shares of Heartland Express stock. The shares were bought at an average price of $10.12 per share, for a total transaction of $946,179.52.
• On Friday, April 26th, Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 88,100 shares of Heartland Express stock. The stock was purchased at an average price of $10.44 per share, with a total value of $919,764.00.
• On Thursday, February 22nd, Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust acquired 14,933 shares of Heartland Express stock. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $12.39 per share, for a total transaction of $185,019.87.

Heartland Express Price Performance

HTLD stock opened at $10.94 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $11.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $864.59 million, a PE ratio of -64.35 and a beta of 0.66. 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 one year low of $9.63 and a one year high of $17.08.

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 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 firm had revenue of $270.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $263.92 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.16 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heartland Express

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Inspire Advisors LLC grew its position in Heartland Express by 23.3% during the first quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 14,715 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $176,000 after purchasing an additional 2,779 shares in the last quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the third quarter worth $244,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Express during the third quarter worth $258,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Heartland Express by 133.2% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 18,082 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 10,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in Heartland Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $327,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on HTLD. Barclays lowered their target price on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price 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. Finally, 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 report on Monday, February 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company 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.