Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Shares Purchased by Jane Street Group LLC

Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 175.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 104,085 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 66,311 shares during the quarter. Jane Street Group LLC’s holdings in Heartland Express were worth $1,278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in Heartland Express in the third quarter valued at approximately $6,634,000. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Express during the 2nd quarter valued at $5,584,000. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Express during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,702,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 243.2% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 241,755 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,981,000 after buying an additional 171,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Heartland Express by 82.5% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 142,774 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,760,000 after buying an additional 64,522 shares during the period. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on HTLD shares. UBS Group dropped their price target on Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.75.

Heartland Express Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:HTLD opened at $11.13 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $11.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $873.67 million, a PE ratio of -38.38 and a beta of 0.75. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 12 month low of $9.63 and a 12 month high of $14.54. 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 (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The transportation company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $259.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $268.35 million. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.11% and a negative return on equity of 2.70%. Heartland Express’s quarterly revenue was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.14) EPS. Research analysts predict that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.38 earnings per share 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently -27.59%.

Insider Transactions at Heartland Express

In other Heartland Express news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 35,960 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $11.97 per share, with a total value of $430,441.20. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,311,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,703,598.61. This trade represents a 2.82 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust acquired 49,506 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $12.24 per share, with a total value of $605,953.44. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 898,584 shares in the company, valued at $10,998,668.16. This represents a 5.83 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 153,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,786,918. Corporate insiders own 39.60% 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.