Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. Sells 2,858 Shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. trimmed its stake in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 86,501 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 2,858 shares during the period. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. owned about 0.11% of Heartland Express worth $971,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Heartland Express by 85.7% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,069 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 2,340 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Heartland Express in the third quarter worth $124,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in Heartland Express in the second quarter worth $166,000. Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new position in Heartland Express in the third quarter worth $202,000. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Heartland Express by 11.8% in the second quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 16,447 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,732 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 5,210 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $11.49 per share, with a total value of $59,862.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,265,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,534,872.98. This trade represents a 0.41 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust acquired 49,506 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,998,668.16. The trade was a 5.83 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 153,750 shares of company stock worth $1,786,918 over the last ninety days. 39.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Heartland Express Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ HTLD traded up $0.02 on Monday, reaching $11.20. The company had a trading volume of 88,116 shares, compared to its average volume of 225,043. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $11.80 and its 200-day moving average is $11.99. The stock has a market cap of $879.17 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -38.62 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.63 and a 52 week high of $13.82.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $259.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $268.35 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.14) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -27.59%.

Heartland Express Company 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.