Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Short Interest Up 10.7% in September

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,450,000 shares, an increase of 10.7% from the August 31st total of 1,310,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 359,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.0 days. Currently, 3.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $11.67 per share, with a total value of $583,500.00. Following the acquisition, 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 this hyperlink. 39.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heartland Express

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Heartland Express by 64.6% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,565 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position 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 valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,984 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the 1st quarter valued at $62,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Express during the 2nd quarter worth $166,000. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 23.3% during the first quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 14,715 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $176,000 after purchasing an additional 2,779 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Trading Down 2.2 %

NASDAQ:HTLD traded down $0.27 on Tuesday, reaching $12.01. 301,683 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 356,461. The firm has a market capitalization of $949.40 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -70.65 and a beta of 0.69. Heartland Express has a 52-week low of $9.63 and a 52-week high of $15.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The business has a fifty day moving average of $12.27 and a 200-day moving average of $11.73.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $274.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $275.23 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Heartland Express will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -47.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HTLD has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group cut shares of Heartland Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $15.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $10.00 price objective (down from $12.00) on shares of Heartland Express in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.00.

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.