Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Invests $2.69 Million in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 240,080 shares of the transportation company's stock, valued at approximately $2,694,000. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned 0.31% of Heartland Express as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $75,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Heartland Express in the fourth quarter worth $105,000. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Heartland Express in the 3rd quarter valued at about $124,000. Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Heartland Express during the fourth quarter valued at about $148,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Express during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $171,000. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Barclays cut their target price on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HTLD traded down $0.16 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $8.35. 657,322 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 406,328. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 12-month low of $8.11 and a 12-month high of $13.67. The company has a market cap of $655.73 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.57 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The business's fifty day moving average price is $10.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.16.

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Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The transportation company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.02. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 3.57% and a negative net margin of 2.84%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th were issued a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 25th. Heartland Express's dividend payout ratio is currently -21.62%.

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.