Insider Buying: Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Major Shareholder Purchases 148,272 Shares of Stock

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 148,272 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $7.70 per share, for a total transaction of $1,141,694.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 1,046,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,060,791.20. This trade represents a 16.50 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Large shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Shares of HTLD opened at $8.46 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $664.36 million, a PE ratio of -22.86 and a beta of 1.04. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 52-week low of $7.11 and a 52-week high of $13.67. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $8.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The transportation company reported ($0.18) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $219.42 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $241.37 million. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.84% and a negative return on equity of 3.57%. The firm’s revenue was down 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.19) EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 EPS for the current year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th were paid a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently -22.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on HTLD shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,726 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Heartland Express in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Heartland Express during the 4th quarter valued at $75,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Heartland Express during the fourth quarter worth $79,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the fourth quarter valued at $105,000. 53.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Heartland Express Company 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.