Short Interest in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Declines By 5.7%

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,160,000 shares, a drop of 5.7% from the October 15th total of 1,230,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 310,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.7 days. Currently, 2.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HTLD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Heartland Express from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Heartland Express has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $11.75.

Heartland Express Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of HTLD traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $12.26. 389,746 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 358,051. The firm has a market cap of $962.41 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -42.07 and a beta of 0.71. Heartland Express has a 12-month low of $9.63 and a 12-month high of $14.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $11.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.89.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 35,960 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $11.97 per share, for a total transaction of $430,441.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,311,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,703,598.61. This represents a 2.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 154,244 shares of company stock worth $1,764,464. Company insiders own 39.60% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heartland Express

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HTLD. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Express during the third quarter worth about $6,634,000. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Heartland Express in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,584,000. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Heartland Express in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,702,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 243.2% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 241,755 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $2,981,000 after buying an additional 171,319 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in Heartland Express by 175.5% in the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 104,085 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,278,000 after purchasing an additional 66,311 shares during the last quarter. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.