GSA Capital Partners LLP Sells 3,749 Shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)

GSA Capital Partners LLP lessened its holdings in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 89,926 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 3,749 shares during the quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP owned about 0.11% of Heartland Express worth $1,104,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HTLD. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Heartland Express by 74.1% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,218 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 9,884 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Heartland Express by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 49,198 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $587,000 after acquiring an additional 3,195 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its holdings in Heartland Express by 84.0% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 136,195 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,626,000 after acquiring an additional 62,172 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in Heartland Express in the 1st quarter worth $348,000. Finally, MQS Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the 1st quarter valued at about $376,000. Institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Heartland Express

In other Heartland Express news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 35,960 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was acquired 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,703,598.61. This represents a 2.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders bought 154,244 shares of company stock worth $1,764,464. 39.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Heartland Express Price Performance

NASDAQ:HTLD opened at $12.42 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $974.97 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -42.83 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.85. Heartland Express, Inc. has a 1 year low of $9.63 and a 1 year high of $14.60.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.75.

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.