Dean Investment Associates LLC Sells 151,233 Shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Dean Investment Associates LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD - Free Report) by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 331,800 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 151,233 shares during the quarter. Dean Investment Associates LLC owned about 0.42% of Heartland Express worth $4,075,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HTLD. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Heartland Express by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 30,780 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $368,000 after buying an additional 1,965 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in Heartland Express by 266.3% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,984 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Heartland Express by 64.6% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,565 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007 shares during the last quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co lifted its stake in Heartland Express by 13.9% during the second quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co now owns 73,528 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $907,000 after purchasing an additional 9,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legato Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 15.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 178,227 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $2,198,000 after purchasing an additional 24,314 shares in the last quarter. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Heartland Express

In other news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 5,210 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $11.49 per share, for a total transaction of $59,862.90. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,265,002 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,534,872.98. The trade was a 0.41 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 49,506 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $12.24 per share, with a total value of $605,953.44. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 898,584 shares in the company, valued at $10,998,668.16. This trade represents a 5.83 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 203,750 shares of company stock worth $2,370,418. 39.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Heartland Express Trading Down 2.0 %

Heartland Express stock traded down $0.24 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $11.95. The stock had a trading volume of 224,163 shares, compared to its average volume of 424,040. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.01. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.63 and a 52 week high of $14.60. The stock has a market cap of $938.04 million, a PE ratio of -41.21 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The transportation company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $259.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $268.35 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 2.70% and a negative net margin of 2.11%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.14) earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $11.75.

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.