Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Stake Raised by Invesco Ltd.

Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD - Free Report) by 93.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 591,755 shares of the transportation company's stock after purchasing an additional 285,838 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 0.75% of Heartland Express worth $6,639,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Inspire Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 17,310 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $194,000 after buying an additional 1,770 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Heartland Express by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 39,395 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $442,000 after purchasing an additional 2,196 shares during the last quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 24,390 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,399 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Heartland Express in the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Heartland Express by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 210,266 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $2,359,000 after acquiring an additional 5,946 shares in the last quarter. 53.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Barclays reduced their price objective on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

NASDAQ:HTLD traded down $0.40 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $7.21. The stock had a trading volume of 215,447 shares, compared to its average volume of 409,398. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $565.81 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.44 and a beta of 0.97. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.13 and a 52 week high of $13.67.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The transportation company reported ($0.18) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by ($0.12). Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 3.57% and a negative net margin of 2.84%. 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 posted ($0.19) earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th were paid a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 25th. Heartland Express's dividend payout ratio is currently -21.62%.

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.