Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Coverage Initiated at Robert W. Baird

Equities researchers at Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on shares of Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) in a research note issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set a “neutral” rating and a $9.00 price target on the transportation company’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 0.77% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Barclays reduced their target price on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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 note on Thursday, May 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $9.75.

Heartland Express Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:HTLD opened at $9.07 on Tuesday. Heartland Express has a fifty-two week low of $7.11 and a fifty-two week high of $13.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.71. The company has a market cap of $712.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.19 and a beta of 1.05.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The transportation company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by ($0.05). Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.86% and a negative return on equity of 3.46%. The business had revenue of $219.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $241.37 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.19) EPS. Heartland Express’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Heartland Express will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust purchased 167,644 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.95 per share, with a total value of $1,500,413.80. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 1,214,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,869,775. This represents a 16.01% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director James G. Pratt acquired 6,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.96 per share, for a total transaction of $58,876.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 30,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $268,800. This represents a 28.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 619,031 shares of company stock valued at $5,125,232. 40.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Heartland Express

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HTLD. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Heartland Express by 173.8% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,726 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the fourth quarter worth $79,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the fourth quarter valued at $105,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 1,261.6% during the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 12,472 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $115,000 after acquiring an additional 11,556 shares during the last quarter. 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.