Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Major Shareholder Purchases $605,953.44 in Stock

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust acquired 49,506 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $12.24 per share, for a total transaction of $605,953.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 898,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,998,668.16. This trade represents a 5.83 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Major shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Heartland Express Stock Up 1.2 %

HTLD stock opened at $12.37 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $971.05 million, a P/E ratio of -42.66 and a beta of 0.71. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Heartland Express, Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.63 and a twelve month high of $14.60.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The transportation company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $259.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $268.35 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 2.70% and a negative net margin of 2.11%. Heartland Express’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.14) EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its stake in Heartland Express by 84.0% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 136,195 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,626,000 after purchasing an additional 62,172 shares during the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the 2nd quarter worth about $5,584,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Heartland Express by 82.5% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 142,774 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,760,000 after buying an additional 64,522 shares during the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Heartland Express during the second quarter worth about $687,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Heartland Express by 6.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 30,780 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $368,000 after acquiring an additional 1,965 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on HTLD. UBS Group dropped their target price on Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $11.75.

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.