Insider Buying: Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Major Shareholder Purchases 49,506 Shares of Stock

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust purchased 49,506 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $12.24 per share, with a total value of $605,953.44. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 898,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,998,668.16. The trade was a 5.83 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Major shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Heartland Express Stock Up 1.2 %

HTLD stock opened at $12.37 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $11.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.92. The company has a market capitalization of $971.05 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -42.66 and a beta of 0.71. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.63 and a 52 week high of $14.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The transportation company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $259.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $268.35 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 2.70% and a negative net margin of 2.11%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.14) earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on HTLD. Barclays boosted their target price 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 decreased their price objective on 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Heartland Express by 64.6% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,565 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 266.3% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,984 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Heartland Express during the first quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Heartland Express during the third quarter worth approximately $124,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in Heartland Express in the second quarter worth approximately $166,000. 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.