Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) PT Lowered to $12.00

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) had its price target reduced by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $13.00 to $12.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the transportation company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 17.53% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Heartland Express from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Barclays dropped their target price on Heartland Express from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Heartland Express currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.50.

Heartland Express Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ HTLD traded down $0.22 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $10.21. The stock had a trading volume of 157,497 shares, compared to its average volume of 308,116. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market cap of $806.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.00 and a beta of 0.62. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $11.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.89. Heartland Express has a 52-week low of $10.00 and a 52-week high of $17.08.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). Heartland Express had a return on equity of 1.71% and a net margin of 1.22%. The business had revenue of $270.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $263.92 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Heartland Express will post -0.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of Heartland Express

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HTLD. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew 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 worth $17,988,000 after acquiring an additional 609,769 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates bought a new stake in Heartland Express in the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,559,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,172,549 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $45,241,000 after buying an additional 264,313 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 115.0% in the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 394,367 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $5,793,000 after buying an additional 210,935 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the third quarter worth $1,662,000. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.