Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 162,144 Shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its stake in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD - Free Report) by 18.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 725,042 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 162,144 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.92% of Heartland Express worth $6,685,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Heartland Express by 173.8% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,726 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $79,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $105,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Heartland Express by 1,261.6% during the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 12,472 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 11,556 shares during the last quarter. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on HTLD. Robert W. Baird began coverage on Heartland Express in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $9.00 price target for the company. Barclays dropped their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Heartland Express from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Heartland Express to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Heartland Express currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $9.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Heartland Express news, Director James G. Pratt acquired 6,571 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were bought at an average price of $8.96 per share, with a total value of $58,876.16. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 30,000 shares in the company, valued at $268,800. This trade represents a 28.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 148,272 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.50 per share, for a total transaction of $1,260,312.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 438,282 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,725,397. This represents a 51.13% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have acquired 619,031 shares of company stock valued at $5,125,232. 40.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HTLD traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $8.36. 674,561 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 547,565. The firm has a market cap of $656.71 million, a PE ratio of -18.17 and a beta of 1.05. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $8.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.42. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 12 month low of $7.11 and a 12 month high of $13.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The transportation company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.08) by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $210.39 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $229.12 million. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 3.85% and a negative return on equity of 4.38%. The firm's revenue was down 23.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.04) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were paid a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. Heartland Express's dividend payout ratio is currently -17.39%.

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.