MQS Management LLC Buys New Position in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 31,512 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $376,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Heartland Express by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 26,561 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 970 shares during the period. Inspire Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Heartland Express by 23.3% in the first quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 14,715 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $176,000 after buying an additional 2,779 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Heartland Express by 6.9% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 49,198 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $587,000 after buying an additional 3,195 shares during the period. Lesa Sroufe & Co lifted its stake in Heartland Express by 3.1% in the first quarter. Lesa Sroufe & Co now owns 113,694 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,358,000 after buying an additional 3,467 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in Heartland Express by 11.9% in the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 33,454 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $399,000 after buying an additional 3,545 shares during the period. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Heartland Express Stock Up 3.7 %

NASDAQ HTLD traded up $0.48 on Thursday, reaching $13.29. The company had a trading volume of 672,444 shares, compared to its average volume of 367,586. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a P/E ratio of -78.94 and a beta of 0.69. The company’s fifty day moving average is $11.87 and its 200 day moving average is $11.94. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 52-week low of $9.63 and a 52-week high of $17.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $274.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $275.23 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 2.82% and a negative net margin of 2.17%. Heartland Express’s quarterly revenue was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 25th were given a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 25th. Heartland Express’s payout ratio is currently -47.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on HTLD shares. UBS Group lowered Heartland Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $15.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $10.00 target price (down from $12.00) on shares of Heartland Express in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com raised Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Heartland Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.80.

Insider Activity at Heartland Express

In other Heartland Express news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 31,200 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $9.97 per share, for a total transaction of $311,064.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $886,422.73. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Heartland Express news, Director James G. Pratt acquired 9,000 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $11.96 per share, for a total transaction of $107,640.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 23,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $280,210.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 31,200 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $9.97 per share, with a total value of $311,064.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,909 shares in the company, valued at $886,422.73. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders purchased 405,490 shares of company stock valued at $4,237,451. 39.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.