Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Receives $12.20 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) has been assigned an average rating of “Reduce” from the seven brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $12.20.

HTLD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Heartland Express from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Heartland Express in a research note on Friday, March 27th. UBS Group increased their target price on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley set a $12.00 target price on Heartland Express in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heartland Express

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Heartland Express by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,873,653 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $40,285,000 after purchasing an additional 201,151 shares in the last quarter. Gate City Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Heartland Express by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Gate City Capital Management LLC now owns 2,192,807 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $19,801,000 after purchasing an additional 167,962 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Heartland Express by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,961,907 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $17,755,000 after purchasing an additional 35,355 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Heartland Express by 72.7% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,153,238 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $9,664,000 after purchasing an additional 485,658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Heartland Express by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,090,216 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $9,845,000 after purchasing an additional 166,236 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

Heartland Express stock opened at $14.71 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $11.91 and its 200-day moving average is $10.50. The company has a market cap of $1.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.27 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Heartland Express has a 12 month low of $6.99 and a 12 month high of $14.96.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 24th. The transportation company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.07. The company had revenue of $153.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $177.30 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 3.70% and a negative net margin of 5.69%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.18) EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Heartland Express will post 0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

About Heartland Express

Heartland Express, Inc (NASDAQ: HTLD) is a publicly traded truckload carrier headquartered in North Liberty, Iowa. The company specializes in full truckload transportation, offering dry-van services that connect shippers with customers across the continental United States. Its primary focus is on over-the-road freight movements, serving industries such as manufacturing, retail, and consumer goods.

Founded in 1978 as Heartland Motor Freight, the company has grown from a regional carrier into one of the larger U.S.