Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Downgraded by UBS Group

UBS Group downgraded shares of Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $13.00 price objective on the transportation company’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $15.00.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an underweight rating and set a $10.00 price target (down from $12.00) on shares of Heartland Express in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Heartland Express from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $12.80.

Heartland Express Stock Up 2.4 %

HTLD opened at $12.03 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $950.97 million, a PE ratio of -70.76 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Heartland Express has a 52 week low of $9.63 and a 52 week high of $17.08. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.05.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $270.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $263.92 million. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 1.13% and a negative return on equity of 1.50%. The firm’s revenue was down 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.16 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Heartland Express will post -0.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 25th were issued a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 25th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently -47.06%.

Insider Transactions at Heartland Express

In other news, Director James G. Pratt bought 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $11.96 per share, for a total transaction of $107,640.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 23,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $280,210.84. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director James G. Pratt bought 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $11.96 per share, for a total transaction of $107,640.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 23,429 shares in the company, valued at approximately $280,210.84. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 93,496 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $10.12 per share, with a total value of $946,179.52. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 677,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,853,344.96. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 405,490 shares of company stock worth $4,237,451. Company insiders own 39.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Heartland Express

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Heartland Express by 266.3% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 1,984 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Heartland Express in the first quarter worth about $62,000. Inspire Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Heartland Express by 23.3% in the first quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 14,715 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $176,000 after buying an additional 2,779 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Heartland Express in the third quarter worth about $244,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in Heartland Express by 74.1% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,218 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $277,000 after buying an additional 9,884 shares during the period. 53.45% of the stock is currently 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.