JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Price Target to $12.00

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) had its price target lowered by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $13.00 to $12.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the transportation company’s stock.

HTLD has been the subject of several other reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on Heartland Express from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 1st. StockNews.com raised Heartland Express from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Heartland Express from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $13.50.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Shares of Heartland Express stock opened at $10.36 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $11.56 and a 200 day moving average of $12.79. Heartland Express has a 12 month low of $10.00 and a 12 month high of $17.08. The firm has a market cap of $818.75 million, a PE ratio of -60.94 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $270.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $263.92 million. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 1.13% and a negative return on equity of 1.50%. Heartland Express’s quarterly revenue was down 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.16 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Heartland Express will post -0.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 26th were issued a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 25th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Heartland Express’s payout ratio is -47.06%.

Insider Transactions at Heartland Express

In other Heartland Express news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust purchased 14,933 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $12.39 per share, for a total transaction of $185,019.87. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 159,865 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,980,727.35. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 39.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HTLD. Graham Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in Heartland Express during the 3rd quarter worth $244,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Heartland Express during the 3rd quarter worth $258,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Heartland Express by 133.2% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 18,082 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 10,327 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth $327,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC increased its holdings in Heartland Express by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 23,644 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,654 shares during the period. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.