Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Sets New 12-Month Low – What’s Next?

Shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $7.09 and last traded at $7.0950, with a volume of 83608 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.28.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HTLD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays cut their target price on Heartland Express from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Heartland Express from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Heartland Express from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $8.75.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $8.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.41. The firm has a market cap of $577.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.22 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The transportation company reported ($0.11) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $172.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $209.68 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 4.42% and a negative net margin of 3.85%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heartland Express

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 0.5% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,857,387 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $32,325,000 after buying an additional 17,962 shares during the last quarter. Gate City Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Heartland Express by 167.6% during the second quarter. Gate City Capital Management LLC now owns 1,611,581 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $13,924,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009,388 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,408,307 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $12,168,000 after buying an additional 166,717 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Heartland Express by 11.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,241,432 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,727,000 after purchasing an additional 128,702 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its position in Heartland Express by 72.7% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,153,238 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $9,664,000 after acquiring an additional 485,658 shares during the period. 53.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Heartland Express

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.