Trexquant Investment LP Cuts Stock Holdings in Heartland Express, Inc. $HTLD

Trexquant Investment LP cut its stake in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD - Free Report) by 61.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,918 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 92,491 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP owned about 0.07% of Heartland Express worth $534,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HTLD. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,726 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position 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 valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 11,556 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Express during the 1st quarter valued at $117,000. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Heartland Express by 243.6% during the 1st quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 12,987 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $120,000 after purchasing an additional 9,207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Heartland Express by 44.4% during the 1st quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 13,858 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 4,263 shares during the last quarter. 53.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Heartland Express Price Performance

HTLD stock traded down $0.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $8.51. 187,201 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 567,314. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $658.36 million, a P/E ratio of -18.49 and a beta of 1.09. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 52-week low of $7.11 and a 52-week high of $12.85. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $8.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.73.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The transportation company reported ($0.14) earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $229.12 million. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 3.85% and a negative return on equity of 4.42%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 23.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.04) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Heartland Express's payout ratio is presently -17.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HTLD has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Baird R W raised Heartland Express to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Barclays decreased their target price on Heartland Express from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Heartland Express from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Heartland Express from $9.00 to $8.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $9.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 24,798 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.19 per share, with a total value of $203,095.62. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,491,868 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,218,398.92. This represents a 1.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 30,000 shares of company stock worth $245,752. 40.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.