Dean Capital Management Reduces Stake in Heartland Express, Inc. $HTLD

Dean Capital Management lessened its holdings in Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) by 65.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 78,742 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 149,329 shares during the quarter. Dean Capital Management’s holdings in Heartland Express were worth $660,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of HTLD. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in Heartland Express by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 27,708 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $255,000 after acquiring an additional 1,170 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 1.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 126,736 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,095,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 11.7% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 14,504 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,517 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 5.9% during the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 27,205 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 9.8% during the third quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 21,191 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $178,000 after purchasing an additional 1,893 shares during the last quarter. 53.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wall Street Zen lowered Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird set a $12.00 price objective on Heartland Express and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. UBS Group upped their target price on Heartland Express from $8.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Heartland Express in a report on Monday, December 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $10.20.

Heartland Express Stock Up 0.3%

HTLD opened at $9.53 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $10.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $738.19 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.01 and a beta of 1.13. Heartland Express, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $6.99 and a fifty-two week high of $12.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04.

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

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

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

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.