Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) CEO Acquires $203,095.62 in Stock

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) CEO Michael Gerdin purchased 24,798 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $8.19 per share, with a total value of $203,095.62. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,491,868 shares in the company, valued at $12,218,398.92. The trade was a 1.69% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Shares of HTLD stock opened at $8.11 on Thursday. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 52-week low of $7.11 and a 52-week high of $12.85. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $627.78 million, a P/E ratio of -17.63 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $8.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.02.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 4.42% and a negative net margin of 3.85%.The business had revenue of $210.39 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $229.12 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.04) earnings per share. Heartland Express’s revenue was down 23.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HTLD. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 173.8% in the 1st 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. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,036 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 11,556 shares during the period. Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 3,345.5% in 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 during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the 1st quarter valued at $117,000. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HTLD has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Heartland Express from $9.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 28th. Baird R W upgraded Heartland Express to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Barclays reduced their price objective on Heartland Express from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Heartland Express from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Heartland Express currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $9.70.

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.