Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC Sells 34,577 Shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC cut its stake in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD - Free Report) by 68.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,594 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 34,577 shares during the period. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC's holdings in Heartland Express were worth $175,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 148,272 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $7.85 per share, for a total transaction of $1,163,935.20. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,461,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,475,663.80. This represents a 11.29% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 167,644 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $8.95 per share, for a total transaction of $1,500,413.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 1,214,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,869,775. The trade was a 16.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders bought 619,031 shares of company stock worth $5,125,232. Corporate insiders own 40.70% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Heartland Express from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

Shares of HTLD stock opened at $8.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $705.41 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.27 and a beta of 1.04. The company's 50 day moving average is $8.64 and its 200 day moving average is $10.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 52-week low of $7.11 and a 52-week high of $13.67.

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

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th were paid a $0.02 dividend. 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 presently -22.22%.

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.

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