Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust Buys 8,089 Shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Stock

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust acquired 8,089 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $10.74 per share, with a total value of $86,875.86. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 849,078 shares in the company, valued at $9,119,097.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Large shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions 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, with a total value of $946,179.52.
• On Friday, April 26th, Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust acquired 88,100 shares of Heartland Express stock. The shares were bought 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 bought 14,933 shares of Heartland Express stock. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $12.39 per share, for a total transaction of $185,019.87.

Heartland Express Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ HTLD opened at $11.20 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $885.18 million, a PE ratio of -65.88 and a beta of 0.66. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $11.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.54. Heartland Express, Inc. has a one year low of $9.63 and a one year high of $17.08.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last announced 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). The firm had revenue of $270.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was down 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.16 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 26th were paid a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 25th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Heartland Express’s payout ratio is -47.06%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heartland Express

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Heartland Express by 0.7% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 7,944,508 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $116,705,000 after purchasing an additional 55,720 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,172,549 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $45,241,000 after purchasing an additional 264,313 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 99.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,224,494 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $17,988,000 after purchasing an additional 609,769 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 704,437 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,045,000 after purchasing an additional 31,045 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 695,582 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,218,000 after purchasing an additional 48,026 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on HTLD shares. Barclays cut their target price on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.25.

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.