Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. Makes New $5.05 Million Investment in Heartland Express, Inc. $HTLD

Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 331,765 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,049,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of HTLD. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Heartland Express during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,905 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 1,261 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 185.5% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,673 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 3,036 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,549 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 3,918 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Heartland Express by 18.1% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,525 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $99,000 after buying an additional 999 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. UBS Group raised their price target on Heartland Express from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Heartland Express in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heartland Express

In other news, Director David Paul Millis sold 31,402 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.67, for a total transaction of $492,069.34. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 28,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $444,824.29. The trade was a 52.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 41.60% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Trading Up 1.5%

HTLD opened at $12.47 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 1.58. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $13.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.79. Heartland Express, Inc. has a one year low of $6.99 and a one year high of $16.64. The stock has a market cap of $964.31 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -44.53 and a beta of 1.33.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The transportation company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $152.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $185.08 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 0.92% and a negative net margin of 2.98%.Heartland Express’s revenue was down 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.14) EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.19 EPS for the current year.

Heartland Express Company Profile

Heartland Express, Inc (NASDAQ: HTLD) is a publicly traded truckload carrier headquartered in North Liberty, Iowa. The company specializes in full truckload transportation, offering dry-van services that connect shippers with customers across the continental United States. Its primary focus is on over-the-road freight movements, serving industries such as manufacturing, retail, and consumer goods.

Founded in 1978 as Heartland Motor Freight, the company has grown from a regional carrier into one of the larger U.S.