Creative Planning Acquires Shares of 25,592 Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Creative Planning acquired a new stake in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 25,592 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $316,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Heartland Express by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 666,675 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,960,000 after buying an additional 84,739 shares in the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Express during the 2nd quarter worth $5,584,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 243.2% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 241,755 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,981,000 after purchasing an additional 171,319 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 132.8% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 225,713 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,695,000 after purchasing an additional 128,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Express during the 2nd quarter worth $2,702,000. 53.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $11.67 per share, with a total value of $583,500.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,196,718 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,965,699.06. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 39.60% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

Shares of HTLD opened at $11.75 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $928.85 million, a PE ratio of -69.12 and a beta of 0.69. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $12.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.73. 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 $15.20.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.02. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 2.84% and a negative net margin of 2.17%. The company had revenue of $274.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $275.23 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.10 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.21 EPS for the current year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -47.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on HTLD shares. Barclays upped their price objective on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group downgraded Heartland Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $15.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, 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 research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Heartland Express has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.00.

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.