Victory Capital Management Inc. Acquires 15,251 Shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 29.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 66,345 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,251 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 0.08% of Heartland Express worth $612,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 178,471.4% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 50,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $461,000 after purchasing an additional 49,972 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the 1st quarter valued at about $238,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 44.4% during the 1st quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 13,858 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 4,263 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 2.6% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 215,713 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,989,000 after purchasing an additional 5,447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 196.6% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 45,273 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 30,010 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Heartland Express from $9.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Heartland Express to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Heartland Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.63.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

Shares of HTLD stock opened at $7.53 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $591.48 million, a P/E ratio of -16.37 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $8.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.33. Heartland Express, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $7.11 and a fifty-two week high of $12.85.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The transportation company reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by ($0.06). Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 3.85% and a negative return on equity of 4.42%. The business had revenue of $210.39 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $229.12 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.04) EPS. Heartland Express’s revenue was down 23.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, June 23rd were paid a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently -17.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James G. Pratt bought 6,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 30,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $268,800. The trade was a 28.05% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 148,272 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $8.50 per share, for a total transaction of $1,260,312.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 438,282 shares in the company, valued at $3,725,397. This represents a 51.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 619,031 shares of company stock valued at $5,125,232 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 40.70% of the company’s stock.

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.