Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Short Interest Down 12.8% in January

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) saw a large decline in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 994,600 shares, a decline of 12.8% from the January 15th total of 1,140,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 428,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days. Approximately 2.3% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group cut their price target on Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th.

Heartland Express Stock Up 1.0 %

Heartland Express stock traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $11.51. The company had a trading volume of 328,051 shares, compared to its average volume of 445,486. The stock has a market cap of $903.11 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.09 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Heartland Express has a 1 year low of $9.63 and a 1 year high of $13.67. The business has a fifty day moving average of $11.35 and a 200 day moving average of $11.76.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The transportation company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.02. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.84% and a negative return on equity of 3.57%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Heartland Express will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -21.62%.

Institutional Trading of Heartland Express

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Heartland Express by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 88,280 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $991,000 after buying an additional 12,021 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 55.6% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 560,300 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $6,287,000 after acquiring an additional 200,100 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its position in Heartland Express by 31.3% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 414,856 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,655,000 after purchasing an additional 98,866 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth $212,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth $157,000. 53.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.