Marshall Wace LLP Purchases Shares of 54,406 Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 54,406 shares of the transportation company's stock, valued at approximately $610,000. Marshall Wace LLP owned about 0.07% of Heartland Express as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Heartland Express Stock Up 5.8 %

NASDAQ HTLD traded up $0.44 during trading on Thursday, reaching $8.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 350,364 shares, compared to its average volume of 412,647. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $628.24 million, a PE ratio of -21.62 and a beta of 1.04. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 1-year low of $7.11 and a 1-year high of $13.67. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $8.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.57.

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

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th were issued a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Heartland Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -22.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Heartland Express news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 148,272 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $7.85 per share, for a total transaction of $1,163,935.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,461,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,475,663.80. The trade was a 11.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 40.70% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HTLD has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Heartland Express from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday.

Heartland Express 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.