Russell Investments Group Ltd. Cuts Stock Holdings in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its position in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 77,300 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 2,401 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Heartland Express were worth $867,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake 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 worth $1,278,000 after purchasing an additional 66,311 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in Heartland Express by 326.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 83,848 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,029,000 after buying an additional 64,185 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 78,237 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 39,395 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $442,000 after acquiring an additional 2,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the fourth quarter worth approximately $75,000. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Heartland Express Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of HTLD stock opened at $8.25 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 12 month low of $7.98 and a 12 month high of $13.67. The stock has a market cap of $647.87 million, a P/E ratio of -22.30 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.87.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The transportation company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Heartland Express’s payout ratio is currently -21.62%.

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.