Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Lifted to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on HTLD. Barclays dropped their target price on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. UBS Group downgraded Heartland Express from a buy rating to a neutral rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $15.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an underweight rating and issued a $10.00 target price (down from $12.00) on shares of Heartland Express in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Heartland Express currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $12.80.

Heartland Express Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of HTLD stock opened at $13.18 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $11.94 and its 200 day moving average is $11.94. Heartland Express has a twelve month low of $9.63 and a twelve month high of $17.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $274.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $275.23 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 2.82% and a negative net margin of 2.17%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.10 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Heartland Express will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 25th were issued a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 25th. Heartland Express’s payout ratio is currently -47.06%.

Insider Activity

In other Heartland Express news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust purchased 93,496 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $10.12 per share, with a total value of $946,179.52. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 677,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,853,344.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 14,109 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $10.24 per share, for a total transaction of $144,476.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 196,514 shares in the company, valued at $2,012,303.36. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust acquired 93,496 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $10.12 per share, with a total value of $946,179.52. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 677,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,853,344.96. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 249,390 shares of company stock valued at $2,606,927 over the last ninety days. 39.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Heartland Express

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legato Capital Management LLC increased its position in Heartland Express by 15.8% during the second quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 178,227 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,198,000 after acquiring an additional 24,314 shares during the last quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co increased its position in Heartland Express by 13.9% during the second quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co now owns 73,528 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $907,000 after acquiring an additional 9,000 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Heartland Express by 64.6% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,565 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in Heartland Express by 266.3% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 1,984 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in Heartland Express by 8.5% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 40,456 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $483,000 after acquiring an additional 3,180 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

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.