Rhumbline Advisers Sells 6,369 Shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Rhumbline Advisers decreased its stake in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 4.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 137,561 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 6,369 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.17% of Heartland Express worth $1,696,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,172,549 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $45,241,000 after purchasing an additional 264,313 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 132.8% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 225,713 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,695,000 after acquiring an additional 128,758 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 14.6% in the first quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 666,675 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $7,960,000 after buying an additional 84,739 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 292.4% in the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 108,999 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,301,000 after buying an additional 81,220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its holdings in Heartland Express by 84.0% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 136,195 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,626,000 after purchasing an additional 62,172 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Stock Down 3.9 %

Shares of Heartland Express stock opened at $12.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.23. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 1 year low of $9.63 and a 1 year high of $15.65. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $12.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.74. The stock has a market cap of $948.61 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -70.59 and a beta of 0.69.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $274.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $275.23 million. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.17% and a negative return on equity of 2.84%. The company’s revenue was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.10 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th will be paid a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -47.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $10.00 price target (down from $12.00) on shares of Heartland Express in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Heartland Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $15.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Heartland Express has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Heartland Express news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 50,000 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $11.67 per share, with a total value of $583,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,196,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,965,699.06. 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 owned by company insiders.

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.