Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD – Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week low on Monday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $12.00 to $11.00. Barclays currently has an underweight rating on the stock. Heartland Express traded as low as $11.37 and last traded at $11.39, with a volume of 98570 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $11.94.
HTLD has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Heartland Express from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Heartland Express from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Heartland Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.00.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Heartland Express news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust purchased 14,933 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $12.39 per share, for a total transaction of $185,019.87. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 159,865 shares in the company, valued at $1,980,727.35. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 39.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY raised its position in Heartland Express by 26.9% in the 4th quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY now owns 2,889 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 613 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Middle East FZE bought a new position in Heartland Express in the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Heartland Express in the 1st quarter worth approximately $102,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in Heartland Express by 287.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,737 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $111,000 after acquiring an additional 5,740 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Heartland Express by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,495 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $123,000 after acquiring an additional 747 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.
Heartland Express Stock Down 5.4 %
The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market cap of $893.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.00 and a beta of 0.62.
Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $0.16. Heartland Express had a net margin of 1.22% and a return on equity of 1.71%. The company had revenue of $275.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $293.36 million. Equities analysts forecast that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Heartland Express Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 26th will be given a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 25th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.44%.
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.