Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Stake Lowered by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. cut its position in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 49.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,099,804 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 3,039,410 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 3.92% of Heartland Express worth $38,221,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 46,003 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $656,000 after acquiring an additional 4,606 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Heartland Express by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 704,437 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $10,045,000 after purchasing an additional 31,045 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Heartland Express by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,172,549 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $45,241,000 after purchasing an additional 264,313 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the fourth quarter worth $414,000. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in Heartland Express in the 4th quarter valued at $640,000. Institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on HTLD. UBS Group downgraded shares of Heartland Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $15.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $10.00 price objective (down from $12.00) on shares of Heartland Express in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays lifted their target price on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Heartland Express has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $11.67 per share, with a total value of $583,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,196,718 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,965,699.06. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 39.60% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

NASDAQ HTLD opened at $12.42 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $981.81 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -72.82 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 1-year low of $9.63 and a 1-year high of $15.87. The company has a 50 day moving average of $12.31 and a 200-day moving average of $11.74.

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

Heartland Express 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.