Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Stock Position Raised by KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its stake in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD - Free Report) by 490.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 54,900 shares of the transportation company's stock after purchasing an additional 45,600 shares during the quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS owned about 0.07% of Heartland Express worth $507,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of HTLD. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 173.8% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 1,726 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Heartland Express during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Heartland Express during the fourth quarter worth about $79,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in Heartland Express by 1,261.6% in the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 12,472 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $115,000 after acquiring an additional 11,556 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Heartland Express in the 1st quarter valued at about $117,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.45% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $9.00 to $8.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Baird R W upgraded shares of Heartland Express to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen cut Heartland Express from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $9.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Heartland Express news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 148,272 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The shares were bought at an average price of $8.50 per share, with a total value of $1,260,312.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 438,282 shares in the company, valued at $3,725,397. The trade was a 51.13% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 167,644 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.95 per share, for a total transaction of $1,500,413.80. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 1,214,500 shares in the company, valued at $10,869,775. This trade represents a 16.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders acquired 619,031 shares of company stock valued at $5,125,232. Corporate insiders own 40.70% of the company's stock.

Heartland Express Trading Down 3.7%

Shares of HTLD stock traded down $0.29 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $7.53. 904,078 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 552,163. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 1-year low of $7.11 and a 1-year high of $12.85. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $8.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $591.48 million, a PE ratio of -16.37 and a beta of 1.05.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The transportation company reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 4.42% and a negative net margin of 3.85%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 23.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.04) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 EPS for the current year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, June 23rd were paid a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. 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.