Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Increases Holdings in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 8.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 35,143 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,630 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD’s holdings in Heartland Express were worth $395,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Heartland Express during the fourth quarter valued at about $487,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Heartland Express by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 28,579 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $321,000 after buying an additional 2,189 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,506,139 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $39,338,000 after purchasing an additional 123,399 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $610,000. Finally, Keeley Teton Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 100.8% in the 4th quarter. Keeley Teton Advisors LLC now owns 365,421 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,100,000 after purchasing an additional 183,450 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HTLD has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd.

Heartland Express Stock Up 2.4%

Heartland Express stock opened at $9.12 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.08. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.48. The company has a market cap of $716.19 million, a PE ratio of -24.65 and a beta of 1.04. Heartland Express, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $7.11 and a fifty-two week high of $13.67.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 2.84% and a negative return on equity of 3.57%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.19) EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 EPS for the current year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th were issued a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -22.22%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust acquired 167,644 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.95 per share, with a total value of $1,500,413.80. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 1,214,500 shares in the company, valued at $10,869,775. This represents a 16.01% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 148,272 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $7.85 per share, with a total value of $1,163,935.20. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,461,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,475,663.80. This trade represents a 11.29% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased a total of 612,460 shares of company stock valued at $5,066,355 in the last quarter. 40.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.