108,325 Shares in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Acquired by Lesa Sroufe & Co

Lesa Sroufe & Co acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 108,325 shares of the transportation company's stock, valued at approximately $999,000. Lesa Sroufe & Co owned approximately 0.14% of Heartland Express at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 173.8% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,726 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Heartland Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $79,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $105,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 11,556 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.45% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James G. Pratt acquired 6,571 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $8.96 per share, for a total transaction of $58,876.16. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $268,800. This trade represents a 28.05% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 cost of $8.95 per share, for a total transaction of $1,500,413.80. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 1,214,500 shares in the company, valued at $10,869,775. This represents a 16.01% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 619,031 shares of company stock valued at $5,125,232. Corporate insiders own 40.70% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HTLD has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. 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 report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays cut their price objective on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Heartland Express from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HTLD traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $8.65. The stock had a trading volume of 760,818 shares, compared to its average volume of 444,413. The firm has a market cap of $679.46 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.03 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $8.54 and a 200-day moving average of $9.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Heartland Express, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $7.11 and a fifty-two week high of $13.67.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.13) by ($0.05). Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.86% and a negative return on equity of 3.46%. The business had revenue of $219.42 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $241.37 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.19) earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, June 23rd will be paid a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 23rd. Heartland Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -22.22%.

Heartland Express Company 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.