Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Short Interest Up 10.7% in September

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) was the target of a large increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,450,000 shares, an increase of 10.7% from the August 31st total of 1,310,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 359,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.0 days. Currently, 3.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on HTLD. StockNews.com raised Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $10.00 price target (down from $12.00) on shares of Heartland Express in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays raised their price objective on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group lowered Heartland Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $15.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Two research 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, Heartland Express has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.00.

Heartland Express Stock Down 2.2 %

Heartland Express stock traded down $0.27 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $12.01. The stock had a trading volume of 301,683 shares, compared to its average volume of 356,461. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $12.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.23. Heartland Express has a 52 week low of $9.63 and a 52 week high of $15.56. The company has a market cap of $949.40 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -70.65 and a beta of 0.69.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $274.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $275.23 million. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.17% and a negative return on equity of 2.84%. Heartland Express’s revenue was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Heartland Express will post -0.17 EPS for the current year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -47.06%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $11.67 per share, for a total transaction of $583,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,196,718 shares in the company, valued at $13,965,699.06. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 39.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HTLD. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in Heartland Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $640,000. Dean Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. Dean Capital Management now owns 150,014 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,139,000 after acquiring an additional 18,712 shares during the period. Cardinal Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 43.0% in the first quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 58,015 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $694,000 after acquiring an additional 17,457 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 74.1% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,218 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 9,884 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its position in Heartland Express by 292.4% during the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 108,999 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,301,000 after purchasing an additional 81,220 shares during the period. 53.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.