Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Given Consensus Rating of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) has been given a consensus rating of “Reduce” by the seven research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $12.20.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Heartland Express in a research note on Friday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Heartland Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 24th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 46.5% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 233,496 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,428,000 after acquiring an additional 74,078 shares during the period. Amundi acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the first quarter worth $391,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 34.2% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 102,748 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,069,000 after acquiring an additional 26,157 shares during the period. Dean Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 78.3% in the first quarter. Dean Capital Management now owns 244,083 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,538,000 after acquiring an additional 107,174 shares during the period. Finally, Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 14.1% in the first quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. now owns 330,765 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,440,000 after acquiring an additional 40,765 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Trading Down 2.9%

NASDAQ:HTLD opened at $15.36 on Wednesday. Heartland Express has a one year low of $6.99 and a one year high of $16.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The firm has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a P/E ratio of -27.43 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.30.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 24th. The transportation company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.07. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 5.69% and a negative return on equity of 3.70%. The business had revenue of $153.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $177.30 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.18) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Heartland Express will post 0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently -14.29%.

Heartland Express Company Profile

Heartland Express, Inc (NASDAQ: HTLD) is a publicly traded truckload carrier headquartered in North Liberty, Iowa. The company specializes in full truckload transportation, offering dry-van services that connect shippers with customers across the continental United States. Its primary focus is on over-the-road freight movements, serving industries such as manufacturing, retail, and consumer goods.

Founded in 1978 as Heartland Motor Freight, the company has grown from a regional carrier into one of the larger U.S.