12,690 Shares in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Acquired by Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 12,690 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $117,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the 4th quarter valued at $105,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Heartland Express by 126.8% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 288,375 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,236,000 after purchasing an additional 161,222 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Heartland Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Trexquant Investment LP boosted its position in Heartland Express by 91.5% in the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 150,409 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,688,000 after buying an additional 71,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its position in Heartland Express by 36.8% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 25,368 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 6,821 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 148,272 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 438,282 shares in the company, valued at $3,725,397. The trade was a 51.13% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director James G. Pratt purchased 6,571 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were bought at an average price of $8.96 per share, with a total value of $58,876.16. Following the transaction, the director owned 30,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $268,800. This trade represents a 28.05% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 322,487 shares of company stock worth $2,819,602. Insiders own 40.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HTLD has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Baird R W upgraded shares of Heartland Express to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $9.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Heartland Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $9.90.

Heartland Express Stock Up 2.6%

NASDAQ:HTLD opened at $7.90 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $8.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.90. Heartland Express, Inc. has a one year low of $7.11 and a one year high of $12.85. The company has a market cap of $620.55 million, a PE ratio of -17.17 and a beta of 1.06.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The transportation company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by ($0.06). Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 4.42% and a negative net margin of 3.85%. The firm had revenue of $210.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $229.12 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.04) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 23.4% 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 year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently -17.39%.

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.