Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 226,948 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 11,172 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Heartland Express were worth $2,798,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in HTLD. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Heartland Express by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,172,549 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $45,241,000 after acquiring an additional 264,313 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Heartland Express by 47.6% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 581,936 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $8,298,000 after buying an additional 187,569 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Heartland Express by 132.8% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 225,713 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,695,000 after buying an additional 128,758 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its stake in Heartland Express by 292.4% during the 1st quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 108,999 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,301,000 after buying an additional 81,220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its stake in Heartland Express by 84.0% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 136,195 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,626,000 after buying an additional 62,172 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of HTLD stock opened at $11.80 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The business’s 50 day moving average is $12.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.76. The company has a market capitalization of $932.80 million, a P/E ratio of -69.41 and a beta of 0.69. Heartland Express, Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.63 and a twelve month high of $16.29.

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

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 25th were issued a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 25th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently -47.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HTLD has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group downgraded Heartland Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $15.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays lifted 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $10.00 target price (down from $12.00) on shares of Heartland Express in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company 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.