Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Position Increased by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,362 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,913 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Heartland Express were worth $325,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Heartland Express by 64.6% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,565 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 1,007 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its holdings in Heartland Express by 266.3% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 1,984 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Heartland Express during the first quarter valued at about $62,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in Heartland Express during the second quarter valued at about $166,000. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Heartland Express by 23.3% during the first quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 14,715 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $176,000 after buying an additional 2,779 shares in the last quarter. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Heartland Express Stock Down 1.8 %

HTLD stock opened at $11.75 on Friday. Heartland Express, Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.63 and a twelve month high of $15.20. The company has a market cap of $928.85 million, a PE ratio of -69.12 and a beta of 0.69. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 2.84% and a negative net margin of 2.17%. The company had revenue of $274.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $275.23 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.10 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -47.06%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $11.67 per share, for a total transaction of $583,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,196,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,965,699.06. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 39.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HTLD has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group lowered Heartland Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $15.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $10.00 price objective (down from $12.00) on shares of Heartland Express in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.00.

Heartland Express 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.