Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Holdings Cut by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. trimmed its holdings in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 21.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 42,975 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 11,600 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Heartland Express were worth $482,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 175.5% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 104,085 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,278,000 after acquiring an additional 66,311 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Heartland Express by 326.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 83,848 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,029,000 after purchasing an additional 64,185 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Heartland Express by 159.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 127,153 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,561,000 after purchasing an additional 78,237 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 39,395 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $442,000 after buying an additional 2,196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the fourth quarter valued at $75,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

HTLD opened at $8.28 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm has a market cap of $650.23 million, a PE ratio of -22.38 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.89. Heartland Express, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $7.98 and a fifty-two week high of $13.67.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The transportation company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.02. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 3.57% and a negative net margin of 2.84%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th were given a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 25th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -21.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd.

Heartland Express 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.