Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. Takes $5.58 Million Position in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 452,840 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,584,000. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. owned 0.57% of Heartland Express at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Heartland Express by 64.6% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,565 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 1,007 shares during the period. Inspire Advisors LLC increased its stake in Heartland Express by 11.8% during the 2nd 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 during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Heartland Express by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 30,780 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $368,000 after buying an additional 1,965 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its stake in Heartland Express by 266.3% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 1,984 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in Heartland Express by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 40,456 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $483,000 after buying an additional 3,180 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ HTLD opened at $12.38 on Thursday. Heartland Express, Inc. has a one year low of $9.63 and a one year high of $15.70. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $978.65 million, a PE ratio of -72.82 and a beta of 0.69.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.02. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.17% and a negative return on equity of 2.84%. The business had revenue of $274.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $275.23 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -47.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on HTLD. Barclays lifted 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. UBS Group downgraded shares of Heartland Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $15.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $10.00 target price (down previously 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 assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.00.

Insider Activity

In other Heartland Express 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 cost of $11.67 per share, with a total value of $583,500.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,196,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,965,699.06. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 39.60% of the company’s stock.

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.