Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Shares Gap Up After Insider Buying Activity

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday following insider buying activity. The stock had previously closed at $7.92, but opened at $8.23. Heartland Express shares last traded at $8.54, with a volume of 309,808 shares trading hands.

Specifically, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 24,798 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.19 per share, with a total value of $203,095.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,491,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,218,398.92. This trade represents a 1.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 3,888 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $8.20 per share, with a total value of $31,881.60. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 1,467,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,029,974. This trade represents a 0.27% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on HTLD. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Heartland Express from $9.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Baird R W upgraded shares of Heartland Express to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Heartland Express presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $9.70.

Heartland Express Stock Down 3.8%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $8.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.02. The firm has a market cap of $627.78 million, a P/E ratio of -17.63 and a beta of 1.06.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The transportation company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $210.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $229.12 million. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 3.85% and a negative return on equity of 4.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 23.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.04) earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heartland Express

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 173.8% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,726 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in Heartland Express by 185.5% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,673 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 3,036 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in Heartland Express by 1,261.6% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 12,472 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 11,556 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Heartland Express by 3,345.5% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 12,576 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $116,000 after acquiring an additional 12,211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Heartland Express during the 1st quarter worth $117,000. 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.