Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Trading Down 4.4% – Time to Sell?

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)’s stock price traded down 4.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $11.46 and last traded at $11.29. 96,333 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 346,168 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.81.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on HTLD. UBS Group dropped their target price on Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their price objective on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Heartland Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.75.

Heartland Express Trading Down 2.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $906.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -39.83 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The transportation company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.02. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 2.70% and a negative net margin of 2.11%. Equities analysts forecast that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently -27.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 49,506 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $12.24 per share, with a total value of $605,953.44. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 898,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,998,668.16. This represents a 5.83 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 63,074 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $10.95 per share, for a total transaction of $690,660.30. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,259,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,794,722.40. This represents a 5.27 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders purchased 153,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,786,918. Company insiders own 39.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Heartland Express

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the third quarter worth approximately $6,634,000. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Heartland Express during the 2nd quarter worth $2,702,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Heartland Express by 243.2% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 241,755 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,981,000 after acquiring an additional 171,319 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 35.2% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 346,271 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,885,000 after acquiring an additional 90,100 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 78,237 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

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.