Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $2.36 Million Stock Holdings in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 210,266 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,946 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.27% of Heartland Express worth $2,359,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Heartland Express by 326.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 83,848 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,029,000 after buying an additional 64,185 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 159.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 127,153 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,561,000 after acquiring an additional 78,237 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 175.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 104,085 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,278,000 after acquiring an additional 66,311 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Heartland Express by 35.2% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 346,271 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,885,000 after acquiring an additional 90,100 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Heartland Express by 67.2% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,597 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $658,000 after purchasing an additional 21,539 shares during the last quarter. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Heartland Express stock opened at $10.02 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $787.07 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.08 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 12 month low of $9.63 and a 12 month high of $13.67. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $11.09 and its 200-day moving average is $11.63.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The transportation company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.02. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 3.57% and a negative net margin of 2.84%. Equities research analysts expect that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 EPS for the current year.

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.