Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. Has $971,000 Position in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. reduced its position in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 86,501 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 2,858 shares during the period. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc.’s holdings in Heartland Express were worth $971,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Heartland Express by 85.7% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,069 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 2,340 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Heartland Express during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $124,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in Heartland Express during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $166,000. Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new stake in Heartland Express during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $202,000. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Heartland Express by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 16,447 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,732 shares during the last quarter. 53.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on HTLD shares. Barclays raised 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. UBS Group lowered their price objective 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Heartland Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $11.75.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HTLD traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $11.20. 88,116 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 225,043. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.63 and a twelve month high of $13.82. The company has a market cap of $879.17 million, a PE ratio of -38.62 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.99.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The transportation company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by ($0.11). Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.11% and a negative return on equity of 2.70%. The firm had revenue of $259.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $268.35 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.14) EPS. The company’s revenue was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -27.59%.

Insider Activity at Heartland Express

In related news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 63,074 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $10.95 per share, with a total value of $690,660.30. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,259,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,794,722.40. This represents a 5.27 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 49,506 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $12.24 per share, for a total transaction of $605,953.44. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 898,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,998,668.16. This trade represents a 5.83 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 153,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,786,918 in the last 90 days. 39.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.