Quest Partners LLC Invests $230,000 in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 18,619 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in HTLD. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 64.6% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,565 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 1,007 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 266.3% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 1,984 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the 1st quarter worth approximately $62,000. Inspire Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 23.3% in the 1st quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 14,715 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $176,000 after buying an additional 2,779 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 74.1% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,218 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $277,000 after buying an additional 9,884 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:HTLD opened at $12.11 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $950.64 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -71.24 and a beta of 0.69. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 52-week low of $9.63 and a 52-week high of $16.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.23.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.02. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.17% and a negative return on equity of 2.84%. The company had revenue of $274.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $275.23 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.17 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $11.67 per share, with a total value of $583,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,196,718 shares in the company, valued at $13,965,699.06. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 39.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on HTLD. Barclays increased their target price on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $10.00 target price (down from $12.00) on shares of Heartland Express in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded Heartland Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $15.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Heartland Express presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.00.

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.