Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Given Consensus Rating of "Reduce" by Brokerages

Shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Reduce" from the five brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $9.75.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HTLD. Wall Street Zen downgraded Heartland Express from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Baird R W upgraded Heartland Express to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Robert W. Baird began coverage on Heartland Express in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $9.00 price objective for the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. 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.

Heartland Express Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of Heartland Express stock opened at $8.36 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.42. Heartland Express has a 12-month low of $7.11 and a 12-month high of $13.45. The company has a market capitalization of $656.71 million, a P/E ratio of -18.17 and a beta of 1.05. 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 (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The transportation company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by ($0.06). Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 4.38% and a negative net margin of 3.85%. The company had revenue of $210.39 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $229.12 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.04) EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 23.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Heartland Express will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were paid a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. Heartland Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -17.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heartland Express

In other Heartland Express news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 148,272 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $8.50 per share, for a total transaction of $1,260,312.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 438,282 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,725,397. This trade represents a 51.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James G. Pratt purchased 6,571 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 30,000 shares in the company, valued at $268,800. This trade represents a 28.05% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 619,031 shares of company stock worth $5,125,232 in the last quarter. 40.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake 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 worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,726 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake 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 worth $300,000 after acquiring an additional 2,460 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth $79,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth $105,000. Institutional investors own 53.45% of the company's stock.

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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