Analysts Set Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Price Target at $12.80

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” by the five research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and three have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $12.80.

Several brokerages have weighed in on HTLD. StockNews.com cut shares of Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group lowered Heartland Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $15.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $10.00 price target (down from $12.00) on shares of Heartland Express in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 30th.

Heartland Express Price Performance

HTLD opened at $12.15 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $960.46 million, a P/E ratio of -71.47 and a beta of 0.69. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $11.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $12.03. Heartland Express has a 12-month low of $9.63 and a 12-month high of $17.08.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by ($0.07). Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 1.50% and a negative net margin of 1.13%. The business had revenue of $270.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $263.92 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.16 EPS. Heartland Express’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Heartland Express will post -0.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 25th were given a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 25th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -47.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Heartland Express news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 66,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $10.45 per share, for a total transaction of $689,700.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,419,307.30. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 66,000 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $10.45 per share, with a total value of $689,700.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,594 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,419,307.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust acquired 88,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $10.44 per share, for a total transaction of $919,764.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 583,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,093,953.28. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have purchased 405,490 shares of company stock worth $4,237,451. 39.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heartland Express

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 26,561 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $379,000 after purchasing an additional 970 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 292.4% in the 1st quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 108,999 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,301,000 after acquiring an additional 81,220 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates purchased a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth about $8,559,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Heartland Express by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 704,437 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $10,045,000 after purchasing an additional 31,045 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Heartland Express by 141.6% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 43,679 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $623,000 after purchasing an additional 25,597 shares during the period. 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.