Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Stock Price Down 2.9% After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) dropped 2.9% on Wednesday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $11.00 to $9.00. Barclays currently has an underweight rating on the stock. Heartland Express traded as low as $9.00 and last traded at $9.03. Approximately 64,517 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 401,262 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.30.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heartland Express

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Heartland Express during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth about $75,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth about $79,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Heartland Express during the 4th quarter valued at about $105,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Heartland Express in the 3rd quarter valued at about $124,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $718.73 million, a PE ratio of -24.73 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.25.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The transportation company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.02. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.84% and a negative return on equity of 3.57%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be paid a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 25th. Heartland Express’s payout ratio is currently -21.62%.

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.