Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Short Interest Update

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) was the target of a large growth in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,360,000 shares, a growth of 27.1% from the April 30th total of 1,070,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 609,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.2 days. Currently, 3.1% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on HTLD. Wall Street Zen lowered Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st.

Insider Activity at Heartland Express

In other Heartland Express news, Director James G. Pratt acquired 6,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $8.96 per share, with a total value of $58,876.16. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 30,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $268,800. This represents a 28.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 148,272 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $7.85 per share, for a total transaction of $1,163,935.20. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heartland Express

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HTLD. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 35.2% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 346,271 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,885,000 after buying an additional 90,100 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in Heartland Express during the fourth quarter valued at $171,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Heartland Express by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 210,266 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,359,000 after purchasing an additional 5,946 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in Heartland Express during the fourth quarter valued at $148,000. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Heartland Express during the fourth quarter valued at $288,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HTLD opened at $8.63 on Tuesday. Heartland Express has a twelve month low of $7.11 and a twelve month high of $13.67. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $8.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.21. The company has a market capitalization of $677.92 million, a PE ratio of -23.32 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

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

About Heartland Express

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.