Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Invests $2.69 Million in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 240,080 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,694,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in HTLD. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 898,289 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $10,079,000 after acquiring an additional 45,732 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position in Heartland Express by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 730,368 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $8,195,000 after purchasing an additional 63,493 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Heartland Express by 29.3% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 696,823 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $7,818,000 after purchasing an additional 157,892 shares during the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in Heartland Express during the 3rd quarter worth about $6,634,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Heartland Express by 35.2% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 346,271 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,885,000 after buying an additional 90,100 shares during the last quarter. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Barclays lowered their price objective on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HTLD opened at $9.15 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $718.73 million, a PE ratio of -24.73 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Heartland Express, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.83 and a twelve month high of $13.67. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.25.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The transportation company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.02. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 3.57% and a negative net margin of 2.84%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 EPS for the current year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be paid a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -21.62%.

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.