Insider Buying: Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Major Shareholder Purchases 88,100 Shares of Stock

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 88,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $10.44 per share, for a total transaction of $919,764.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 583,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,093,953.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Large shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, April 29th, Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 93,496 shares of Heartland Express stock. The stock was bought at an average cost of $10.12 per share, for a total transaction of $946,179.52.
• On Thursday, February 22nd, Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 14,933 shares of Heartland Express stock. The stock was bought at an average cost of $12.39 per share, for a total transaction of $185,019.87.

Heartland Express Trading Up 4.6 %

Shares of HTLD stock opened at $10.40 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $821.91 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -61.18 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Heartland Express, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $9.63 and a fifty-two week high of $17.08. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $11.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.68.

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

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 26th were paid a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 25th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently -47.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on HTLD shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley decreased 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 report on Monday, February 12th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.25.

Institutional Trading of Heartland Express

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 74.1% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,218 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 9,884 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 0.8% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 605,175 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,226,000 after purchasing an additional 4,955 shares during the period. Cardinal Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 43.0% during the first quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 58,015 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $694,000 after purchasing an additional 17,457 shares during the period. Dean Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Dean Capital Management now owns 150,014 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,139,000 after purchasing an additional 18,712 shares during the period. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Express during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $640,000. 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.