New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 3,504 Shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

New York State Teachers Retirement System cut its position in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 97,129 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 3,504 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.12% of Heartland Express worth $1,385,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James & Associates bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,559,000. Legato Capital Management LLC grew its position in Heartland Express by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 150,014 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,139,000 after acquiring an additional 18,712 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Heartland Express by 141.6% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 43,679 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $623,000 after purchasing an additional 25,597 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 0.7% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 7,944,508 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $116,705,000 after purchasing an additional 55,720 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 16.1% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 21,640 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $318,000 after purchasing an additional 3,001 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 1st. 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 note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heartland Express

In other news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 14,933 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $12.39 per share, for a total transaction of $185,019.87. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 159,865 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,980,727.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 39.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

Shares of Heartland Express stock opened at $10.34 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $817.17 million, a PE ratio of 57.44 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.99. Heartland Express, Inc. has a one year low of $10.00 and a one year high of $17.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $275.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $293.36 million. Heartland Express had a net margin of 1.22% and a return on equity of 1.71%. Research analysts expect that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 26th were paid a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 25th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.44%.

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.