Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Shares Acquired by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 326.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 83,848 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 64,185 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Heartland Express were worth $1,029,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of HTLD. CWM LLC raised its holdings in Heartland Express by 85.7% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,069 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 2,340 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the third quarter valued at $124,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in Heartland Express in the second quarter valued at $166,000. Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new position in Heartland Express during the third quarter worth about $202,000. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its position in Heartland Express by 33.3% during the second quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 19,245 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 4,808 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Price Performance

HTLD stock opened at $11.05 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $867.39 million, a PE ratio of -38.10 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $11.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.95. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 12-month low of $9.63 and a 12-month high of $13.78.

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). Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 2.70% and a negative net margin of 2.11%. The business had revenue of $259.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $268.35 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.14) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.38 EPS for the current year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently -27.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Heartland Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.75.

Insider Activity at Heartland Express

In other news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 5,210 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $11.49 per share, for a total transaction of $59,862.90. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,265,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,534,872.98. This trade represents a 0.41 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust purchased 49,506 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $12.24 per share, for a total transaction of $605,953.44. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 898,584 shares in the company, valued at $10,998,668.16. This trade represents a 5.83 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 153,750 shares of company stock worth $1,786,918. 39.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.