Insider Buying: Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) CEO Purchases 66,000 Shares of Stock

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 66,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $10.45 per share, for a total transaction of $689,700.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 518,594 shares in the company, valued at $5,419,307.30. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Heartland Express Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ HTLD traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $9.94. 1,323,506 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 340,565. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.69. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 1-year low of $9.63 and a 1-year high of $17.08. The firm has a market cap of $785.56 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -58.47 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by ($0.07). Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 1.50% and a negative net margin of 1.13%. The business had revenue of $270.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $263.92 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.16 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 26th were paid a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 25th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -47.06%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on HTLD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays reduced 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Heartland Express from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.25.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 0.7% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 7,944,508 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $116,705,000 after buying an additional 55,720 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,172,549 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $45,241,000 after buying an additional 264,313 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 99.2% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,224,494 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $17,988,000 after buying an additional 609,769 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 704,437 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $10,045,000 after buying an additional 31,045 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Heartland Express by 7.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 695,582 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,218,000 after acquiring an additional 48,026 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

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.