Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Hits New 52-Week Low at $10.47

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $10.47 and last traded at $10.50, with a volume of 64892 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $10.68.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HTLD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Heartland Express from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $13.75.

Heartland Express Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company has a market capitalization of $825.07 million, a PE ratio of 58.00 and a beta of 0.62. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $11.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.01.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $0.16. Heartland Express had a net margin of 1.22% and a return on equity of 1.71%. The company had revenue of $275.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $293.36 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 26th were given a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 25th. Heartland Express's payout ratio is currently 44.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 14,933 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $12.39 per share, with a total value of $185,019.87. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 159,865 shares in the company, valued at $1,980,727.35. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 39.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Heartland Express

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HTLD. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 99.2% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,224,494 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $17,988,000 after acquiring an additional 609,769 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $8,559,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,171,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,199,731 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $74,148,000 after purchasing an additional 274,581 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,172,549 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $45,241,000 after purchasing an additional 264,313 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.