Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Given “Sell (D-)” Rating at Weiss Ratings

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD)‘s stock had its “sell (d-)” rating restated by equities researchers at Weiss Ratings in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays lowered their price target on Heartland Express from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Zacks Research raised Heartland Express from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Baird R W raised Heartland Express to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Morgan Stanley lowered 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Heartland Express from $9.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $9.50.

Heartland Express Price Performance

NASDAQ HTLD opened at $8.79 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $680.42 million, a P/E ratio of -19.11 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $8.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.56. Heartland Express has a fifty-two week low of $7.11 and a fifty-two week high of $12.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The transportation company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $210.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $229.12 million. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 3.85% and a negative return on equity of 4.42%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 23.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.04) earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Heartland Express will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Heartland Express news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 24,798 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $8.19 per share, for a total transaction of $203,095.62. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,491,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,218,398.92. This trade represents a 1.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have bought a total of 30,000 shares of company stock worth $245,752 in the last three months. 40.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its stake in Heartland Express by 11.1% during the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 43,226 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $373,000 after purchasing an additional 4,326 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in Heartland Express by 7.4% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 147,033 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,270,000 after purchasing an additional 10,108 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Heartland Express by 11.7% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 14,504 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,517 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in Heartland Express by 185.5% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,673 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 3,036 shares during the period. Finally, Oxford Asset Management LLP bought a new position in Heartland Express during the second quarter worth about $130,000. 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.