Brokerages Set Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) PT at $12.80

Shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $12.80.

HTLD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Wall Street Zen cut Heartland Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Zacks Research upgraded Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Heartland Express from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Heartland Express from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Heartland Express news, Director David Paul Millis sold 31,402 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.67, for a total transaction of $492,069.34. Following the sale, the director directly owned 28,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $444,824.29. This represents a 52.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 41.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HTLD. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Heartland Express by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,905 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in Heartland Express by 185.5% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,673 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 3,036 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in Heartland Express by 51.3% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,549 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 3,918 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Heartland Express by 18.1% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,525 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $99,000 after buying an additional 999 shares during the last quarter. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Heartland Express Stock Up 0.6%

NASDAQ:HTLD opened at $15.39 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a PE ratio of -27.48 and a beta of 1.31. Heartland Express has a 52-week low of $6.99 and a 52-week high of $16.64. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.24.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its 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 return on equity of 3.70% and a negative net margin of 5.69%.The firm had revenue of $153.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $177.30 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.18) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Heartland Express will post 0.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

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

About Heartland Express

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.