Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Cut to Neutral at UBS Group

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) was downgraded by research analysts at UBS Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Briefing.com reports. They currently have a $13.00 price objective on the transportation company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $15.00. UBS Group’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 6.56% from the company’s current price.

HTLD has been the topic of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $10.00 price objective (down from $12.00) on shares of Heartland Express in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.80.

Heartland Express Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:HTLD opened at $12.20 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $964.41 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -71.76 and a beta of 0.69. Heartland Express has a one year low of $9.63 and a one year high of $17.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.07.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.19) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $270.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $263.92 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 1.50% and a negative net margin of 1.13%. Heartland Express’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.16 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Heartland Express will post -0.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director James G. Pratt acquired 9,000 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $11.96 per share, for a total transaction of $107,640.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $280,210.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director James G. Pratt bought 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $11.96 per share, for a total transaction of $107,640.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 23,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $280,210.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 66,000 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $10.45 per share, with a total value of $689,700.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 518,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,419,307.30. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 405,490 shares of company stock valued at $4,237,451. 39.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heartland Express

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Heartland Express in the 1st quarter worth approximately $62,000. Inspire Advisors LLC boosted its position in Heartland Express by 23.3% during the 1st quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 14,715 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $176,000 after acquiring an additional 2,779 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the third quarter valued at $244,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the fourth quarter valued at $327,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 74.1% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,218 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 9,884 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.