Dean Capital Management Decreases Stock Holdings in Heartland Express, Inc. $HTLD

Dean Capital Management reduced its position in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 65.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 78,742 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 149,329 shares during the period. Dean Capital Management owned 0.10% of Heartland Express worth $660,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 22.2% during the 3rd quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 16,706 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $140,000 after acquiring an additional 3,031 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Heartland Express by 126.5% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 122,526 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,027,000 after purchasing an additional 68,424 shares during the last quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Heartland Express by 206.7% in the third quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC now owns 22,975 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $193,000 after purchasing an additional 15,484 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Heartland Express by 150.6% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 799,491 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,700,000 after purchasing an additional 480,488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Heartland Express by 26.8% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 98,748 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $828,000 after purchasing an additional 20,841 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:HTLD opened at $9.53 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $738.19 million, a P/E ratio of -14.01 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 12 month low of $6.99 and a 12 month high of $12.13. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.22.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 9th. The transportation company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $157.68 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $194.54 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 4.79% and a negative net margin of 6.51%.The firm’s revenue was down 26.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.12) EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 24th will be issued a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 24th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio is currently -11.76%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on HTLD. Barclays raised their price objective on Heartland Express from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Robert W. Baird set a $12.00 target price on Heartland Express and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Wall Street Zen cut Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Heartland Express in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $9.00 price target on Heartland Express in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Heartland Express has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $10.20.

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.