Russell Investments Group Ltd. Purchases Shares of 35,330 Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 35,330 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $562,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 1.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,323,725 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $76,182,000 after purchasing an additional 79,812 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Heartland Express by 3.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,802,741 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $39,436,000 after buying an additional 83,806 shares in the last quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Heartland Express by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 2,514,795 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $38,577,000 after buying an additional 87,204 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Heartland Express by 6.3% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,242,869 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $31,601,000 after buying an additional 131,978 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Heartland Express by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 922,122 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $14,145,000 after buying an additional 21,401 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on HTLD. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of Heartland Express in a report on Tuesday, August 1st. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Heartland Express in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 7th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $14.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Monday, July 17th. Finally, TheStreet cut shares of Heartland Express from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Heartland Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.25.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Shares of HTLD opened at $15.29 on Friday. Heartland Express, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $13.43 and a fifty-two week high of $18.17. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $15.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.74. The company has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.86 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 31st. The transportation company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.16 by ($0.06). Heartland Express had a return on equity of 7.02% and a net margin of 4.76%. The business had revenue of $306.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $319.71 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. Heartland Express’s quarterly revenue was up 63.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 26th were given a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 23rd. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heartland Express

In other news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 5,163 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $15.30 per share, with a total value of $78,993.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 199,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,045,357.90. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 5,163 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $15.30 per share, for a total transaction of $78,993.90. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 199,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,045,357.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 14,023 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $15.00 per share, with a total value of $210,345.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 222,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,341,610. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have bought 42,179 shares of company stock valued at $634,218. Insiders own 39.60% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express 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.