Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) PT Lowered to $10.00

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) had its target price reduced by investment analysts at Barclays from $11.00 to $10.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “underweight” rating on the transportation company’s stock. Barclays‘s target price points to a potential downside of 3.85% from the company’s current price.

HTLD has been the subject of a number of other research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Heartland Express has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.25.

Heartland Express Stock Up 4.6 %

HTLD stock opened at $10.40 on Tuesday. Heartland Express has a one year low of $9.63 and a one year high of $17.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $821.91 million, a PE ratio of -61.18 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a fifty day moving average of $11.41 and a 200-day moving average of $12.68.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its 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 return on equity of 1.50% and a negative net margin of 1.13%. The firm had revenue of $270.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $263.92 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.16 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Heartland Express will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Heartland Express

In other news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust purchased 14,933 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was acquired 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,980,727.35. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust purchased 14,933 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was acquired 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,980,727.35. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 31,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $9.97 per share, for a total transaction of $311,064.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $886,422.73. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 295,729 shares of company stock worth $3,072,787 over the last ninety days. 39.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heartland Express

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 0.7% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 7,944,508 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $116,705,000 after acquiring an additional 55,720 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Heartland Express by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,172,549 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $45,241,000 after buying an additional 264,313 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Heartland Express by 99.2% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,224,494 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $17,988,000 after buying an additional 609,769 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Heartland Express by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 704,437 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $10,045,000 after buying an additional 31,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Heartland Express by 7.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 695,582 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $10,218,000 after buying an additional 48,026 shares in the last quarter. 53.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.