Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Stock Position Lifted by MetLife Investment Management LLC

MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 8.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 28,579 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,189 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Heartland Express were worth $321,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Heartland Express in the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the fourth quarter valued at $75,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Heartland Express during the fourth quarter valued at about $79,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Heartland Express during the fourth quarter worth about $105,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in Heartland Express in the fourth quarter worth about $134,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 148,272 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $7.85 per share, with a total value of $1,163,935.20. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,461,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,475,663.80. The trade was a 11.29 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 40.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

Shares of HTLD opened at $7.55 on Thursday. Heartland Express, Inc. has a one year low of $7.11 and a one year high of $13.67. The company has a 50-day moving average of $8.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market cap of $593.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.41 and a beta of 1.04.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The transportation company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $219.42 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $241.37 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 3.57% and a negative net margin of 2.84%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.19) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th were given a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 25th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -22.22%.

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.