Short Interest in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Declines By 9.5%

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,330,000 shares, a decline of 9.5% from the May 31st total of 1,470,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 412,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days. Approximately 3.0% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust purchased 88,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $10.44 per share, for a total transaction of $919,764.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 583,712 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,093,953.28. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 31,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $9.97 per share, with a total value of $311,064.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,909 shares in the company, valued at $886,422.73. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 88,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $10.44 per share, with a total value of $919,764.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 583,712 shares in the company, valued at $6,093,953.28. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have bought 405,490 shares of company stock worth $4,237,451. Corporate insiders own 39.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heartland Express

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HTLD. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Heartland Express in the first quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Inspire Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Heartland Express by 23.3% in the first quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 14,715 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $176,000 after acquiring an additional 2,779 shares during the last quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the third quarter worth $244,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the third quarter worth $258,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 74.1% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,218 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 9,884 shares in the last quarter. 53.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Heartland Express has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.25.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Shares of HTLD traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $12.06. 215,906 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 363,535. Heartland Express has a one year low of $9.63 and a one year high of $17.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The business has a 50-day moving average of $11.38 and a 200 day moving average of $12.11.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by ($0.07). Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 1.13% and a negative return on equity of 1.50%. The company had revenue of $270.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $263.92 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.16 earnings per share. Heartland Express’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Heartland Express will post -0.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 25th will be paid a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 25th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Heartland Express’s payout ratio is presently -47.06%.

Heartland Express Company 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.