Insider Buying: Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Director Purchases 2,000 Shares of Stock

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Director Michael John Sullivan bought 2,000 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $10.53 per share, with a total value of $21,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,205.43. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Heartland Express Trading Down 0.2 %

Heartland Express stock traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $9.94. 1,323,506 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 340,565. Heartland Express, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $9.63 and a fifty-two week high of $17.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $785.56 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -58.47 and a beta of 0.62. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $270.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $263.92 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.16 earnings per share. Heartland Express’s revenue was down 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 25th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently -47.06%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heartland Express

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HTLD. Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Express during the third quarter valued at about $244,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Express during the third quarter valued at about $258,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Heartland Express by 133.2% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 18,082 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 10,327 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Express during the fourth quarter valued at about $327,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Heartland Express by 7.5% during the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 23,644 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,654 shares during the last quarter. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on HTLD shares. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.25.

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.