Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Receives Underweight Rating from JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated their underweight rating on shares of Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $10.00 price target on the transportation company’s stock, down from their prior price target of $12.00.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Heartland Express from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $12.80.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

Heartland Express stock opened at $12.15 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $11.66 and a 200-day moving average of $12.03. The firm has a market cap of $960.46 million, a P/E ratio of -71.47 and a beta of 0.69. Heartland Express has a 1-year low of $9.63 and a 1-year high of $17.08.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $270.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $263.92 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 1.50% and a negative net margin of 1.13%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.16 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Heartland Express will post -0.11 EPS for the current year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 25th were paid a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 25th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio is -47.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heartland Express

In other news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 31,200 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $9.97 per share, with a total value of $311,064.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $886,422.73. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust purchased 93,496 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $10.12 per share, with a total value of $946,179.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 677,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,853,344.96. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 31,200 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $9.97 per share, with a total value of $311,064.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $886,422.73. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders acquired 405,490 shares of company stock valued at $4,237,451. Corporate insiders own 39.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heartland Express

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Graham Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the 3rd quarter worth $244,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 7,944,508 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $116,705,000 after acquiring an additional 55,720 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 141.6% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 43,679 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $623,000 after acquiring an additional 25,597 shares during the last quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 150,014 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,139,000 after acquiring an additional 18,712 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates purchased a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth $8,559,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

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.