Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Short Interest Update

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,430,000 shares, a drop of 14.4% from the March 15th total of 1,670,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 305,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.7 days. Approximately 3.5% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Heartland Express Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:HTLD opened at $10.68 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $844.04 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.33 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.04. Heartland Express has a 52-week low of $10.47 and a 52-week high of $17.08.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $0.16. The business had revenue of $275.35 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $293.36 million. Heartland Express had a return on equity of 1.71% and a net margin of 1.22%. Analysts expect that Heartland Express will post -0.01 EPS for the current year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 26th were paid a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 25th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Heartland Express from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Heartland Express from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Heartland Express from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.75.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust purchased 14,933 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $12.39 per share, for a total transaction of $185,019.87. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 159,865 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,980,727.35. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 39.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HTLD. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 1.7% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 559,970 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $7,879,000 after buying an additional 9,269 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 16.9% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 44,708 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $629,000 after buying an additional 6,455 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 26.0% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 10,047 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $142,000 after buying an additional 2,075 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 54.3% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 25,899 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $364,000 after buying an additional 9,110 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 49.5% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 202,409 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,848,000 after buying an additional 66,976 shares during the period. 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.