Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Sets New 12-Month Low at $9.88

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low on Monday . The stock traded as low as $9.88 and last traded at $9.98, with a volume of 905166 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $10.36.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on HTLD shares. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 1st. StockNews.com cut shares of Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Heartland Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.50.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $787.14 million, a PE ratio of -60.76 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.76.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by ($0.07). Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 1.50% and a negative net margin of 1.13%. The company had revenue of $270.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $263.92 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 26th were paid a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 25th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. Heartland Express’s payout ratio is -47.06%.

Insider Activity at Heartland Express

In other news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 14,933 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $12.39 per share, for a total transaction of $185,019.87. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 159,865 shares in the company, valued at $1,980,727.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 39.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Heartland Express in the third quarter valued at approximately $244,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Heartland Express in the third quarter valued at approximately $258,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Heartland Express by 133.2% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 18,082 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 10,327 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Heartland Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $327,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC grew its position in Heartland Express by 7.5% in the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 23,644 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,654 shares in the last quarter. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.