Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Short Interest Update

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,430,000 shares, a decrease of 14.4% from the March 15th total of 1,670,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 305,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.7 days. Currently, 3.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HTLD has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com raised Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Heartland Express from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Heartland Express from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Heartland Express currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.75.

Heartland Express Trading Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ HTLD opened at $10.68 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $13.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $844.04 million, a P/E ratio of 59.33 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. Heartland Express has a one year low of $10.47 and a one year high of $17.08.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $0.16. The business had revenue of $275.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $293.36 million. Heartland Express had a return on equity of 1.71% and a net margin of 1.22%. Research analysts expect that Heartland Express will post -0.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 26th were issued a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 25th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Heartland Express’s payout ratio is currently 44.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust purchased 14,933 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $12.39 per share, with a total value of $185,019.87. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 159,865 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,980,727.35. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 39.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cardinal Capital Management boosted its holdings in Heartland Express by 43.0% in the first quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 58,015 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $694,000 after acquiring an additional 17,457 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,199,731 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $74,148,000 after purchasing an additional 274,581 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,815 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $411,000 after purchasing an additional 958 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 179.5% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 77,922 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,110,000 after purchasing an additional 50,044 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Weiss Multi Strategy Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Weiss Multi Strategy Advisers LLC now owns 67,326 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $960,000 after purchasing an additional 16,481 shares in the last quarter. 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.