Larson Financial Group LLC Purchases 49,972 Shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD - Free Report) by 178,471.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 50,000 shares of the transportation company's stock after purchasing an additional 49,972 shares during the quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC owned 0.06% of Heartland Express worth $461,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of HTLD. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in Heartland Express by 173.8% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,726 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Heartland Express by 317.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,236 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 2,460 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Express during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the fourth quarter worth $79,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the fourth quarter worth $105,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.45% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director James G. Pratt purchased 6,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $8.96 per share, with a total value of $58,876.16. Following the purchase, the director owned 30,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $268,800. This trade represents a 28.05% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 167,644 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 1,214,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,869,775. The trade was a 16.01% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased a total of 619,031 shares of company stock valued at $5,125,232 in the last 90 days. 40.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Heartland Express Price Performance

HTLD stock opened at $8.59 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $8.88 and a 200 day moving average of $9.54. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 1 year low of $7.11 and a 1 year high of $13.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The company has a market cap of $674.74 million, a P/E ratio of -23.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The transportation company reported ($0.18) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by ($0.05). The firm 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 3.46% and a negative net margin of 2.86%. The company's revenue was down 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.19) EPS. On average, sell-side 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 given a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. Heartland Express's dividend payout ratio is presently -22.22%.

Heartland Express Profile

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.