Penn Capital Management Company LLC Takes Position in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Penn Capital Management Company LLC bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 43,301 shares of the transportation company's stock, valued at approximately $486,000. Penn Capital Management Company LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Heartland Express as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Heartland Express in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth $79,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $105,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in Heartland Express in the fourth quarter worth $134,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.45% of the company's stock.

Heartland Express Trading Down 4.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:HTLD traded down $0.34 on Wednesday, hitting $7.50. The company had a trading volume of 400,403 shares, compared to its average volume of 410,850. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 1 year low of $7.22 and a 1 year high of $13.67. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $9.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $588.98 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.27 and a beta of 0.97.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $219.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $241.37 million. Equities analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.07%. Heartland Express's payout ratio is currently -21.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd.

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.