Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Shares Bought by Cwm LLC

Cwm LLC raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 266.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,729 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,984 shares during the period. Cwm LLC’s holdings in Heartland Express were worth $34,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in HTLD. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Heartland Express by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,172,549 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $45,241,000 after purchasing an additional 264,313 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake 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. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Heartland Express by 14.6% in the first quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 666,675 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,960,000 after purchasing an additional 84,739 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 4,955 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 128,758 shares during the period. 53.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Heartland Express news, Director James G. Pratt bought 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $11.96 per share, for a total transaction of $107,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $280,210.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 39.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HTLD opened at $12.32 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.82. Heartland Express, Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.63 and a twelve month high of $16.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market capitalization of $973.91 million, a PE ratio of -72.47 and a beta of 0.69.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $274.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $275.23 million. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.17% and a negative return on equity of 2.82%. Heartland Express’s quarterly revenue was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 25th were paid a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 25th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently -47.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HTLD has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $10.00 price target (down previously from $12.00) on shares of Heartland Express in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Heartland Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $15.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Heartland Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.00.

Heartland Express Company Profile

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.