Barclays PLC Buys 64,185 Shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 326.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 83,848 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 64,185 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Heartland Express were worth $1,029,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HTLD. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Heartland Express by 85.7% during 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 during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $124,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $166,000. Paloma Partners Management Co bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the third quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Heartland Express by 11.8% during the second quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 16,447 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $203,000 after acquiring an additional 1,732 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heartland Express

In other news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust purchased 49,506 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 acquisition, the insider now directly owns 898,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,998,668.16. This trade represents a 5.83 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 63,074 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $10.95 per share, for a total transaction of $690,660.30. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,259,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,794,722.40. This trade represents a 5.27 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 153,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,786,918 in the last 90 days. 39.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HTLD opened at $11.10 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $871.32 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -38.28 and a beta of 0.75. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.01. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $9.63 and a 1-year high of $14.30.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The transportation company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $268.35 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.14) EPS. Heartland Express’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio is -27.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on HTLD shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.75.

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.