Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Shares Purchased by Millennium Management LLC

Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD - Free Report) by 243.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 241,755 shares of the transportation company's stock after purchasing an additional 171,319 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC owned about 0.31% of Heartland Express worth $2,981,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Cardinal Capital Management grew its position in Heartland Express by 43.0% in the first quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 58,015 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $694,000 after acquiring an additional 17,457 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Heartland Express by 74.1% in 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 in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its stake in Heartland Express by 292.4% in the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 108,999 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $1,301,000 after purchasing an additional 81,220 shares in the last quarter. Lesa Sroufe & Co boosted its stake in Heartland Express by 3.1% in the first quarter. Lesa Sroufe & Co now owns 113,694 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $1,358,000 after purchasing an additional 3,467 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Heartland Express by 132.8% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 225,713 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $2,695,000 after purchasing an additional 128,758 shares in the last quarter. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on HTLD shares. UBS Group lowered Heartland Express from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $15.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $10.00 price target (down previously from $12.00) on shares of Heartland Express in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com raised Heartland Express from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Heartland Express has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $12.00.

Insider Transactions at Heartland Express

In related news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $11.67 per share, with a total value of $583,500.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,196,718 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,965,699.06. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 39.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

Shares of HTLD stock traded down $0.10 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $11.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 217,481 shares, compared to its average volume of 351,025. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.63 and a 52 week high of $15.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The business has a fifty day moving average of $12.03 and a 200-day moving average of $11.73. The company has a market cap of $911.46 million, a PE ratio of -67.82 and a beta of 0.69.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $274.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $275.23 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 2.84% and a negative net margin of 2.17%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.10 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Heartland Express, Inc. will post -0.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. Heartland Express's dividend payout ratio is presently -47.06%.

Heartland Express 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.