R Squared Ltd Purchases Shares of 6,690 Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 6,690 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of HTLD. CWM LLC grew its position in Heartland Express by 85.7% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,069 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 2,340 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the third quarter valued at approximately $124,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Express during the second quarter valued at approximately $166,000. Paloma Partners Management Co bought a new stake in Heartland Express during the third quarter worth $202,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Heartland Express in the third quarter worth $305,000. Institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Stock Up 0.4 %

HTLD stock opened at $11.44 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $11.58 and a 200-day moving average of $11.89. Heartland Express, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $9.63 and a fifty-two week high of $13.67. The company has a market capitalization of $898.04 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.92 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The transportation company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.02. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.84% and a negative return on equity of 3.55%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio is -21.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heartland Express

In related news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 63,074 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $10.95 per share, for a total transaction of $690,660.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,259,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,794,722.40. This represents a 5.27 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust acquired 49,506 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $12.24 per share, with a total value 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 153,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,786,918 in the last 90 days. 39.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HTLD has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their target price on Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.75.

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.