Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) CEO Michael J. Gerdin Acquires 31,200 Shares

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 31,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $9.97 per share, for a total transaction of $311,064.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 88,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $886,422.73. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Heartland Express stock traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $9.94. 1,323,506 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 340,565. The company has a market cap of $785.56 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -58.47 and a beta of 0.62. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $11.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 12-month low of $9.63 and a 12-month high of $17.08.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 1.13% and a negative return on equity of 1.50%. The firm had revenue of $270.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $263.92 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.16 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HTLD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut shares of Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.25.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 0.7% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 7,944,508 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $116,705,000 after purchasing an additional 55,720 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,172,549 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $45,241,000 after purchasing an additional 264,313 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 99.2% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,224,494 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $17,988,000 after purchasing an additional 609,769 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 704,437 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,045,000 after purchasing an additional 31,045 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 7.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 695,582 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,218,000 after purchasing an additional 48,026 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

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.