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 purchased 49,506 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $12.24 per share, with a total value of $605,953.44. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 898,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,998,668.16. This trade represents a 5.83 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Heartland Express Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Heartland Express stock opened at $12.22 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.91. The firm has a market cap of $959.27 million, a PE ratio of -41.90 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 1 year low of $9.63 and a 1 year high of $14.60.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The transportation company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by ($0.11). Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.11% and a negative return on equity of 2.70%. The business had revenue of $259.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $268.35 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.14) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group cut their price target 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 lifted their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company 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 given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Heartland Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.75.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heartland Express

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HTLD. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Heartland Express by 64.6% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,565 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 11.8% during the second quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 16,447 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,732 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 7.8% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 26,362 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $325,000 after buying an additional 1,913 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Heartland Express by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 30,780 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $368,000 after buying an additional 1,965 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its position in Heartland Express by 266.3% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 1,984 shares during the last quarter. 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.