22,359 Shares in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Bought by Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 22,359 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $251,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the 4th quarter worth about $75,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the 4th quarter worth about $79,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the 4th quarter worth about $105,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the 4th quarter worth about $134,000. 53.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

Shares of Heartland Express stock opened at $9.06 on Friday. Heartland Express, Inc. has a one year low of $7.11 and a one year high of $13.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $711.70 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.49 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.17.

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

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th were given a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 25th. Heartland Express’s payout ratio is -22.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HTLD has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Barclays lowered 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st.

Insider Activity at Heartland Express

In other news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 148,272 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $7.85 per share, with a total value of $1,163,935.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,461,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,475,663.80. This represents a 11.29% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director James G. Pratt bought 6,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $8.96 per share, with a total value of $58,876.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,000 shares in the company, valued at $268,800. This represents a 28.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 619,031 shares of company stock valued at $5,125,232 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 40.70% of the company’s stock.

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.