Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Price Target Increased to $11.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) had its price target hoisted by analysts at Barclays from $10.00 to $11.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “underweight” rating on the transportation company’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would suggest a potential downside of 14.40% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on HTLD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $10.00 price target (down from $12.00) on shares of Heartland Express in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Heartland Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $15.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Heartland Express presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.00.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Shares of Heartland Express stock traded down $0.12 on Thursday, hitting $12.85. 61,980 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 367,601. Heartland Express has a 12-month low of $9.63 and a 12-month high of $16.29. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.93. The company has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a P/E ratio of -75.59 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick 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) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.02. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 2.82% and a negative net margin of 2.17%. The business had revenue of $274.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $275.23 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Heartland Express will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heartland Express

In other news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust acquired 8,089 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $10.74 per share, with a total value of $86,875.86. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 849,078 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,119,097.72. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 93,496 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $10.81 per share, for a total transaction of $1,010,691.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 290,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,135,008.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust acquired 8,089 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $10.74 per share, with a total value of $86,875.86. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 849,078 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,119,097.72. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 110,585 shares of company stock valued at $1,205,208 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 39.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in Heartland Express by 3.8% during 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. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Heartland Express by 64.6% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,565 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Heartland Express by 6.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 30,780 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $368,000 after acquiring an additional 1,965 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its holdings in Heartland Express by 266.3% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,984 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 23.3% during the first quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 14,715 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $176,000 after purchasing an additional 2,779 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

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.