Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust Buys 49,506 Shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Stock

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 49,506 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 898,584 shares in the company, valued at $10,998,668.16. This represents a 5.83 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Large shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Heartland Express Price Performance

NASDAQ:HTLD opened at $12.19 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $11.78 and its 200 day moving average is $11.91. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 12 month low of $9.63 and a 12 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.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The transportation company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 for 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 firm’s revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Heartland Express

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,007 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Heartland Express by 266.3% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,984 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the first quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the third quarter valued at approximately $124,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the second quarter worth approximately $166,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HTLD has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.75.

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.