Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Receives $9.70 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) have earned an average rating of “Reduce” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and four have issued a hold recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $9.70.

HTLD has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of 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 shares of Heartland Express to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st.

Heartland Express Price Performance

HTLD opened at $8.40 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $650.23 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.26 and a beta of 1.09. Heartland Express has a fifty-two week low of $7.11 and a fifty-two week high of $12.85. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $8.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $8.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $210.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $229.12 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 4.42% and a negative net margin of 3.85%.Heartland Express’s revenue was down 23.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.04) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Heartland Express will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 23rd. Heartland Express’s payout ratio is -17.39%.

Insider Activity at Heartland Express

In related news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 24,798 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $8.19 per share, for a total transaction of $203,095.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,491,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,218,398.92. This represents a 1.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 30,000 shares of company stock worth $245,752. 40.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Heartland Express

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Heartland Express by 173.8% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 1,726 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in shares of Heartland Express by 185.5% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,673 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 3,036 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Heartland Express by 1,261.6% during the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 12,472 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $115,000 after buying an additional 11,556 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 3,345.5% in the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 12,576 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 12,211 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the 1st quarter worth approximately $117,000. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.