Barclays Lowers Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Price Target to $8.00

Key Points

• Barclays has lowered the price target for Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) from $9.00 to $8.00, maintaining an "underweight" rating on the stock.
• Heartland Express reported a loss of ($0.14) per share for the most recent quarter, missing estimates and showing a revenue drop of 23.4% year-over-year.
• Despite recent downgrades, Heartland Express has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $9.70 according to MarketBeat.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD - Free Report) had its target price reduced by Barclays from $9.00 to $8.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an underweight rating on the transportation company's stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Heartland Express from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Baird R W upgraded Heartland Express to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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 Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Heartland Express from $9.00 to $8.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Heartland Express from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $9.70.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HTLD traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $7.67. 519,404 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 640,370. The company has a market capitalization of $602.48 million, a P/E ratio of -16.67 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Heartland Express has a 52-week low of $7.11 and a 52-week high of $12.85. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $8.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.17.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The transportation company reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.08) by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $210.39 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $229.12 million. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 3.85% and a negative return on equity of 4.42%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 23.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.04) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Heartland Express will post 0.17 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director James G. Pratt purchased 6,571 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.96 per share, for a total transaction of $58,876.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 30,000 shares in the company, valued at $268,800. This represents a 28.05% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust purchased 167,644 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $8.95 per share, with a total value of $1,500,413.80. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,214,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,869,775. This represents a 16.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 40.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Heartland Express

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HTLD. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Heartland Express in the first quarter worth about $6,389,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the first quarter worth about $5,396,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 93.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 591,755 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $6,639,000 after acquiring an additional 285,838 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 55.6% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 560,300 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $6,287,000 after acquiring an additional 200,100 shares during the period. Finally, Bastion Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 123.3% in the second quarter. Bastion Asset Management Inc. now owns 344,058 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $3,121,000 after acquiring an additional 190,011 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.45% of the company's stock.

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.