Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Price Target Lowered to $10.00 at Barclays

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) had its target price trimmed by Barclays from $11.00 to $10.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the transportation company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Heartland Express from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $13.25.

Heartland Express Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of HTLD opened at $10.77 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $851.15 million, a P/E ratio of -63.35 and a beta of 0.66. Heartland Express has a one year low of $9.63 and a one year high of $17.08. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $11.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $263.92 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.16 EPS. Heartland Express’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Heartland Express will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 26th were paid a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 25th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -47.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heartland Express

In related news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 14,933 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 159,865 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,980,727.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 14,933 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were 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 owns 159,865 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,980,727.35. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 31,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $9.97 per share, with a total value of $311,064.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,909 shares in the company, valued at $886,422.73. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have purchased 403,334 shares of company stock valued at $4,227,955. 39.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heartland Express

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HTLD. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Heartland Express by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 7,944,508 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $116,705,000 after purchasing an additional 55,720 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings 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 worth $45,241,000 after acquiring an additional 264,313 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Heartland Express by 99.2% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 609,769 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Heartland Express by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 704,437 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,045,000 after purchasing an additional 31,045 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Heartland Express by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 695,582 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,218,000 after purchasing an additional 48,026 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.