Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Shares Gap Down to $10.44

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $10.44, but opened at $10.20. Heartland Express shares last traded at $10.22, with a volume of 60,991 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on HTLD. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.75.

Heartland Express Price Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.97. The company has a market cap of $802.94 million, a PE ratio of 56.44 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by $0.16. Heartland Express had a net margin of 1.22% and a return on equity of 1.71%. The business had revenue of $275.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $293.36 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Heartland Express’s payout ratio is 44.44%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust acquired 14,933 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $12.39 per share, for a total transaction of $185,019.87. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 159,865 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,980,727.35. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 39.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heartland Express

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HTLD. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Heartland Express by 99.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,224,494 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $17,988,000 after acquiring an additional 609,769 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates acquired a new stake in Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth $8,559,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Heartland Express in the fourth quarter valued at $5,171,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Heartland Express by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,172,549 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $45,241,000 after purchasing an additional 264,313 shares during the period. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.