Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C Decreases Position in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C reduced its stake in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD - Free Report) by 83.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,547 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 56,281 shares during the quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C's holdings in Heartland Express were worth $130,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $75,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth about $79,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $105,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in Heartland Express in the 4th quarter worth $134,000. 53.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on HTLD. StockNews.com lowered shares of Heartland Express from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective 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.

Heartland Express Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of Heartland Express stock traded up $0.07 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $8.98. 471,436 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 422,847. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $705.20 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.27 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.50. Heartland Express, Inc. has a twelve month low of $7.11 and a twelve month high of $13.67.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The transportation company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.13) by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $219.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $241.37 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 3.57% and a negative net margin of 2.84%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.19) earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 EPS for the current year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th were paid a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. Heartland Express's dividend payout ratio is currently -22.22%.

Insider Activity

In other Heartland Express news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust purchased 148,272 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $7.70 per share, with a total value of $1,141,694.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,046,856 shares in the company, valued at $8,060,791.20. The trade was a 16.50% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 40.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.