State Street Corp Decreases Stake in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

State Street Corp lessened its position in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,822,330 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 12,213 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned about 2.32% of Heartland Express worth $22,414,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 852,557 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $10,469,000 after acquiring an additional 22,448 shares during the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Heartland Express during the second quarter valued at $5,584,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Heartland Express by 5.3% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 256,171 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,146,000 after purchasing an additional 12,998 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Heartland Express by 243.2% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 241,755 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,981,000 after purchasing an additional 171,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the 2nd quarter worth $2,702,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of HTLD opened at $11.26 on Monday. Heartland Express, Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.63 and a twelve month high of $14.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.04. The company has a market cap of $883.88 million, a P/E ratio of -38.83 and a beta of 0.75.

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

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. Heartland Express’s payout ratio is currently -27.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Heartland Express

In related news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 49,506 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $12.24 per share, with a total value of $605,953.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 898,584 shares in the company, valued at $10,998,668.16. The trade was a 5.83 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 5,210 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $11.49 per share, with a total value of $59,862.90. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,265,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,534,872.98. This trade represents a 0.41 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 153,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,786,918 in the last quarter. 39.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.