Cherokee Insurance Co Buys Shares of 81,560 Heartland Express, Inc. $HTLD

Cherokee Insurance Co purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 81,560 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,000. Cherokee Insurance Co owned about 0.10% of Heartland Express at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Heartland Express by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 215,713 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,989,000 after acquiring an additional 5,447 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Heartland Express by 44.4% in the first quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 13,858 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 4,263 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the first quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 178,471.4% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 50,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $461,000 after buying an additional 49,972 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Heartland Express by 29.8% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 66,345 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $612,000 after buying an additional 15,251 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 24,798 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $8.19 per share, with a total value of $203,095.62. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,491,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,218,398.92. This represents a 1.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 40.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HTLD has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Heartland Express from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Heartland Express in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Heartland Express from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Heartland Express presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $8.75.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Heartland Express stock opened at $7.74 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $599.14 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.83 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $8.43. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.11 and a 52 week high of $12.85.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The transportation company reported ($0.11) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11). Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 4.42% and a negative net margin of 3.85%.The firm had revenue of $172.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $209.68 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.