Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Given Average Recommendation of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) have earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the seven analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $10.20.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on HTLD shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Robert W. Baird set a $12.00 target price on shares of Heartland Express and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Heartland Express in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $8.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st.

Heartland Express Stock Down 6.1%

Heartland Express stock opened at $10.15 on Monday. Heartland Express has a one year low of $6.99 and a one year high of $12.13. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $10.67 and a 200 day moving average of $9.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market cap of $786.22 million, a PE ratio of -14.93 and a beta of 1.13.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 9th. The transportation company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.01. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 4.79% and a negative net margin of 6.51%.The business had revenue of $157.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $194.54 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.12) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 26.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Heartland Express will post 0.17 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Heartland Express

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HTLD. Dean Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 73.9% during the 4th quarter. Dean Capital Management now owns 136,909 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,236,000 after buying an additional 58,167 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Heartland Express by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 405,220 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,659,000 after buying an additional 60,715 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings in Heartland Express by 59.4% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 62,772 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $567,000 after acquiring an additional 23,381 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Heartland Express by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 374,948 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,386,000 after acquiring an additional 37,190 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $130,000. Institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

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.