Insider Buying: Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) CEO Buys $1,163,935.20 in Stock

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 148,272 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $7.85 per share, with a total value of $1,163,935.20. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,461,868 shares in the company, valued at $11,475,663.80. This trade represents a 11.29 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Heartland Express Stock Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ HTLD opened at $8.46 on Friday. Heartland Express, Inc. has a twelve month low of $7.11 and a twelve month 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 stock has a market cap of $664.36 million, a PE ratio of -22.86 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.53.

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

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heartland Express

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HTLD. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Heartland Express by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,506,139 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $39,338,000 after acquiring an additional 123,399 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 959,257 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $8,844,000 after purchasing an additional 60,968 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 730,368 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $8,195,000 after buying an additional 63,493 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 29.3% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 696,823 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $7,818,000 after buying an additional 157,892 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Heartland Express by 93.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 591,755 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $6,639,000 after buying an additional 285,838 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on HTLD. 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 report on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com lowered Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd.

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.