Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Major Shareholder Buys $1,141,694.40 in Stock

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

Heartland Express Trading Up 1.2 %

HTLD stock opened at $8.46 on Friday. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.11 and a 52 week high of $13.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.08. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.52. The company has a market capitalization of $664.36 million, a PE ratio of -22.86 and a beta of 1.04.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The transportation company reported ($0.18) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $219.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $241.37 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 3.57% and a negative net margin of 2.84%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.19) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

HTLD has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heartland Express

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of HTLD. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 326.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 83,848 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,029,000 after buying an additional 64,185 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Heartland Express by 159.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 127,153 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,561,000 after acquiring an additional 78,237 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC increased its holdings in Heartland Express by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 39,395 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $442,000 after purchasing an additional 2,196 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Heartland Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $75,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 35.2% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 346,271 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,885,000 after purchasing an additional 90,100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

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.