Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $2.51 Million Holdings in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 204,320 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 22,628 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.26% of Heartland Express worth $2,509,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in HTLD. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Heartland Express by 326.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 83,848 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,029,000 after acquiring an additional 64,185 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 29.6% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 65,255 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $802,000 after purchasing an additional 14,921 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in shares of Heartland Express by 175.5% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 104,085 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,278,000 after purchasing an additional 66,311 shares during the period. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Express during the 3rd quarter worth about $6,634,000. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the third quarter valued at approximately $202,000. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heartland Express

In related news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 63,074 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $10.95 per share, for a total transaction of $690,660.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,259,792 shares in the company, valued at $13,794,722.40. This trade represents a 5.27 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 49,506 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $12.24 per share, with a total value of $605,953.44. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 898,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,998,668.16. This represents a 5.83 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 153,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,786,918 over the last three months. 39.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HTLD. UBS Group cut their price target on Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their target price on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.75.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Shares of HTLD opened at $11.18 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $877.60 million, a PE ratio of -38.55 and a beta of 0.77. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 52-week low of $9.63 and a 52-week high of $13.82. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $11.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The transportation company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $259.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $268.35 million. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.11% and a negative return on equity of 2.70%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.14) EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.38 EPS for the current year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Heartland Express’s payout ratio is presently -27.59%.

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.