Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Shares Gap Down to $10.44

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $10.44, but opened at $10.20. Heartland Express shares last traded at $10.22, with a volume of 60,991 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HTLD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Heartland Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.75.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $11.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.97. The company has a market cap of $802.94 million, a P/E ratio of 56.44 and a beta of 0.62.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $0.16. Heartland Express had a net margin of 1.22% and a return on equity of 1.71%. The company had revenue of $275.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $293.36 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 26th were issued a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 25th. Heartland Express’s payout ratio is 44.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 14,933 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $12.39 per share, for a total transaction of $185,019.87. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 159,865 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,980,727.35. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 39.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cardinal Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 43.0% in the first quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 58,015 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $694,000 after purchasing an additional 17,457 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,199,731 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $74,148,000 after purchasing an additional 274,581 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,815 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $411,000 after purchasing an additional 958 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 179.5% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 77,922 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,110,000 after purchasing an additional 50,044 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Weiss Multi Strategy Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Weiss Multi Strategy Advisers LLC now owns 67,326 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $960,000 after purchasing an additional 16,481 shares in the last quarter. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.