Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. Invests $2.62 Million in Heartland Express, Inc. $HTLD

Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 290,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,619,000. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. owned 0.37% of Heartland Express as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Heartland Express by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,857,387 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $32,325,000 after purchasing an additional 17,962 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 worth $17,755,000 after buying an additional 35,355 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 72.7% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,153,238 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $9,664,000 after purchasing an additional 485,658 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,090,216 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $9,845,000 after purchasing an additional 166,236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP grew its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 91.0% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 812,248 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,807,000 after purchasing an additional 386,961 shares in the last quarter. 53.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on HTLD shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Heartland Express in a report on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Heartland Express from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 24th. Barclays increased their price objective on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. UBS Group upped their target price on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Heartland Express from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $12.20.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Heartland Express stock opened at $15.36 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The company has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a PE ratio of -27.43 and a beta of 1.31. Heartland Express, Inc. has a one year low of $6.99 and a one year high of $16.64. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.30.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 24th. The transportation company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.07. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 3.70% and a negative net margin of 5.69%.The business had revenue of $153.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $177.30 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.18) EPS. Heartland Express’s revenue was down 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be paid a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 23rd. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -14.29%.

Heartland Express Company Profile

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.