Cherokee Insurance Co Takes Position in Heartland Express, Inc. $HTLD

Cherokee Insurance Co acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 81,560 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 24.4% during the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 53,948 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $466,000 after acquiring an additional 10,594 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 215,713 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,989,000 after purchasing an additional 5,447 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Heartland Express by 29.8% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 66,345 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $612,000 after purchasing an additional 15,251 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Heartland Express in the 1st quarter worth $6,389,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS lifted its stake in Heartland Express by 490.3% in the first quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 54,900 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $507,000 after purchasing an additional 45,600 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Heartland Express

In related news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 24,798 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.19 per share, for a total transaction of $203,095.62. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 1,491,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,218,398.92. This trade represents a 1.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 40.70% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Trading Up 0.5%

HTLD opened at $7.74 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $599.14 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.83 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Heartland Express, Inc. has a one year low of $7.11 and a one year high of $12.85.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The transportation company reported ($0.11) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $172.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $209.68 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 4.42% and a negative net margin of 3.85%. Analysts predict that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HTLD. Barclays reduced their price objective on Heartland Express from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Heartland Express in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Heartland Express from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $8.75.

Heartland Express 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.