Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Short Interest Update

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,410,000 shares, an increase of 21.6% from the October 31st total of 1,160,000 shares. Currently, 3.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 344,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.1 days.

Heartland Express Trading Down 0.4 %

Heartland Express stock traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $12.72. The company had a trading volume of 392,610 shares, compared to its average volume of 357,067. 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 has a 12-month low of $9.63 and a 12-month high of $14.60. The firm has a market cap of $998.13 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.84 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $11.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.99.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.11% and a negative return on equity of 2.70%. The firm had revenue of $259.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $268.35 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.14) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Heartland Express will post -0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HTLD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target 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 lowered their price target on Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $11.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 63,074 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $10.95 per share, for a total transaction of $690,660.30. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,259,792 shares in the company, valued at $13,794,722.40. This trade represents a 5.27 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 49,506 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was bought 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. Insiders purchased a total of 203,750 shares of company stock worth $2,370,418 in the last quarter. 39.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heartland Express

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 326.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 83,848 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,029,000 after purchasing an additional 64,185 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 29.6% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 65,255 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $802,000 after purchasing an additional 14,921 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in Heartland Express by 175.5% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 104,085 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,278,000 after acquiring an additional 66,311 shares in the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in Heartland Express in the third quarter worth $6,634,000. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co bought a new stake in Heartland Express in the third quarter worth $202,000. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.