Creative Planning Raises Position in Heartland Express, Inc. $HTLD

Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 274.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 77,907 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 57,080 shares during the period. Creative Planning’s holdings in Heartland Express were worth $673,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Heartland Express by 3,345.5% in the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 12,576 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 12,211 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the first quarter worth $117,000. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Heartland Express by 243.6% during the 1st quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 12,987 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $120,000 after purchasing an additional 9,207 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC bought a new position in Heartland Express in the second quarter worth approximately $128,000. Finally, Caxton Associates LLP bought a new position in Heartland Express in the 1st quarter worth $133,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HTLD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Heartland Express in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Heartland Express from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Barclays reduced their price target on Heartland Express from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $8.75.

Heartland Express Stock Up 5.9%

NASDAQ:HTLD opened at $8.82 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company’s 50 day moving average is $7.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.38. Heartland Express, Inc. has a twelve month low of $6.99 and a twelve month high of $12.63. The company has a market cap of $683.11 million, a PE ratio of -19.60 and a beta of 1.14.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The transportation company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.11). The business had revenue of $172.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $209.68 million. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 4.01% and a negative return on equity of 4.37%. Analysts anticipate that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 EPS for the current year.

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.