Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Shares Gap Up After Insider Buying Activity

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday after an insider bought additional shares in the company. The stock had previously closed at $7.92, but opened at $8.23. Heartland Express shares last traded at $8.54, with a volume of 309,808 shares.

Specifically, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 24,798 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.19 per share, with a total value of $203,095.62. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 1,491,868 shares in the company, valued at $12,218,398.92. The trade was a 1.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 3,888 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.20 per share, with a total value of $31,881.60. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 1,467,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,029,974. This represents a 0.27% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Heartland Express from $9.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 28th. Barclays decreased their target price on Heartland Express from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Heartland Express from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Heartland Express has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $9.70.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $8.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a market capitalization of $652.57 million, a PE ratio of -18.33 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Institutional Trading of Heartland Express

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Heartland Express by 173.8% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 1,726 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Heartland Express by 317.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,236 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 2,460 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in shares of Heartland Express by 185.5% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,673 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 3,036 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $134,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Heartland Express by 1,261.6% in the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 12,472 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 11,556 shares in the last quarter. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.