Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) CEO Michael J. Gerdin Buys 148,272 Shares

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 148,272 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $8.50 per share, with a total value of $1,260,312.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 438,282 shares in the company, valued at $3,725,397. The trade was a 51.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Heartland Express Price Performance

NASDAQ HTLD opened at $8.91 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.49. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 52-week low of $7.11 and a 52-week high of $13.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market cap of $699.70 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.08 and a beta of 1.04.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The transportation company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by ($0.05). Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 3.57% and a negative net margin of 2.84%. The firm had revenue of $219.42 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $241.37 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.19) EPS. The company’s revenue was down 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 25th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -22.22%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heartland Express

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of HTLD. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Heartland Express by 326.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 83,848 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,029,000 after acquiring an additional 64,185 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Heartland Express by 159.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 127,153 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,561,000 after acquiring an additional 78,237 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its position in Heartland Express by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 39,395 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $442,000 after acquiring an additional 2,196 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $75,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Heartland Express by 35.2% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 346,271 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,885,000 after acquiring an additional 90,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lowered their target price on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com cut Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st.

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.