Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Price Target Cut to $10.00

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) had its price target decreased by equities researchers at Barclays from $11.00 to $10.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “underweight” rating on the transportation company’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 3.31% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.25.

Heartland Express Stock Down 2.8 %

HTLD traded down $0.28 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $9.68. 338,415 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 328,037. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.37. Heartland Express has a fifty-two week low of $9.63 and a fifty-two week high of $17.08. The stock has a market cap of $765.01 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -56.76 and a beta of 0.62.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.19) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $270.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $263.92 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 1.50% and a negative net margin of 1.13%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.16 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Heartland Express will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust acquired 14,933 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $12.39 per share, for a total transaction of $185,019.87. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 159,865 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,980,727.35. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 39.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heartland Express

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Heartland Express by 99.2% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,224,494 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $17,988,000 after buying an additional 609,769 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates acquired a new position in Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth about $8,559,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Heartland Express by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,172,549 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $45,241,000 after acquiring an additional 264,313 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in Heartland Express by 115.0% in the 3rd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 394,367 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $5,793,000 after acquiring an additional 210,935 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the third quarter worth about $1,662,000. Institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

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.