Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Shares Sold by Renaissance Technologies LLC

Renaissance Technologies LLC decreased its position in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 59.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 102,720 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 148,713 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned about 0.13% of Heartland Express worth $1,267,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Heartland Express by 64.6% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,565 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 11.8% during the second quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 16,447 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $203,000 after buying an additional 1,732 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 6.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 30,780 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $368,000 after buying an additional 1,965 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its position in Heartland Express by 266.3% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 1,984 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in Heartland Express by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 40,456 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $483,000 after acquiring an additional 3,180 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HTLD. StockNews.com raised Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “underweight” rating and set a $10.00 price objective (down from $12.00) on shares of Heartland Express in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group cut Heartland Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $15.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $11.67 per share, with a total value of $583,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,196,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,965,699.06. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 39.60% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

NASDAQ:HTLD opened at $11.31 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Heartland Express, Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.63 and a twelve month high of $15.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $894.07 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -66.53 and a beta of 0.69.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $274.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $275.23 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 2.84% and a negative net margin of 2.17%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.10 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be given a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -47.06%.

Heartland Express 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.