Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Receives Consensus Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Posted by Stanley Muller on Jul 12th, 2026

Shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD – Get Free Report) have received an average rating of “Reduce” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $12.80.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HTLD. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Heartland Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Heartland Express in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Heartland Express from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Heartland Express

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 that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.67, for a total value of $492,069.34. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 28,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $444,824.29. This represents a 52.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 41.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heartland Express

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Heartland Express by 18.1% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,525 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 999 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 46.5% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 233,496 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,428,000 after buying an additional 74,078 shares during the period. Amundi bought a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the 1st quarter valued at about $391,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 34.2% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 102,748 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,069,000 after acquiring an additional 26,157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dean Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 78.3% in the 1st quarter. Dean Capital Management now owns 244,083 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,538,000 after acquiring an additional 107,174 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Heartland Express stock traded down $0.16 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $14.80. 394,204 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 578,946. The company has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a P/E ratio of -26.43 and a beta of 1.31. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $14.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.04. Heartland Express has a 52-week low of $6.99 and a 52-week high of $16.64.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 24th. The transportation company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $177.30 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.18) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Heartland Express will post 0.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 23rd. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -14.29%.

About Heartland Express

(Get Free Report)

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.