Insider Buying: Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) CEO Acquires $59,862.90 in Stock

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 5,210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost 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 approximately $14,534,872.98. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Heartland Express Trading Down 0.5 %

HTLD stock opened at $11.99 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.79. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.63 and a 52 week high of $14.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The transportation company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $259.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $268.35 million. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.11% and a negative return on equity of 2.70%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.14) EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HTLD. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Heartland Express by 64.6% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,565 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its position in Heartland Express by 266.3% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 1,984 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Heartland Express in the first quarter valued at about $62,000. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Heartland Express in the third quarter valued at about $124,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in Heartland Express in the second quarter valued at about $166,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group dropped their target price on Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com raised Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.50.

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.