Michael J. Gerdin Buys 50,000 Shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Stock

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $11.67 per share, for a total transaction of $583,500.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,196,718 shares in the company, valued at $13,965,699.06. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Heartland Express Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:HTLD opened at $12.11 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.76. Heartland Express, Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.63 and a twelve month high of $16.29. 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 company has a market capitalization of $950.64 million, a PE ratio of -71.24 and a beta of 0.69.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 64.6% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,565 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its position in Heartland Express by 266.3% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,984 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Heartland Express during the 1st quarter worth $62,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in Heartland Express during the 2nd quarter worth $166,000. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC increased its stake in Heartland Express by 23.3% in the first quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 14,715 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $176,000 after purchasing an additional 2,779 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lowered shares of Heartland Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $15.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $10.00 price target (down from $12.00) on shares of Heartland Express in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.00.

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.