Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Given New $15.00 Price Target at Robert W. Baird

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) had its price objective boosted by Robert W. Baird from $12.00 to $15.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the transportation company’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on HTLD. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $8.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley set a $9.00 price objective on shares of Heartland Express in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Heartland Express in a research report on Friday, March 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Heartland Express presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $11.20.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

NASDAQ:HTLD opened at $13.03 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a PE ratio of -23.27 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.67. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $6.99 and a fifty-two week high of $13.21.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.07. The business had revenue of $176.26 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $177.30 million. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 5.69% and a negative return on equity of 3.68%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.18) EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Heartland Express will post -0.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 24th were given a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 24th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -14.29%.

Institutional Trading of Heartland Express

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of HTLD. Jump Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Heartland Express by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 12,252 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $111,000 after purchasing an additional 870 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,170 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Heartland Express by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,905 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Heartland Express by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 126,736 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Heartland Express by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 14,504 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,517 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Heartland Express

Here are the key news stories impacting Heartland Express this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 EPS beat consensus: Heartland reported a $0.06 loss per share vs. a consensus loss of $0.13, a meaningful beat that suggests improving profitability trends. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Operating performance and balance-sheet improvements: Management reported a 490 bp improvement in operating ratio vs. Q1 2025, reduced acquisition-related debt substantially (from $494.1M in 2022 to $149.9M) and eliminated Smith Transport debt. These items support margin recovery and lower financial risk. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrade/target raise from Robert W. Baird: Baird raised its price target to $15 and keeps an “Outperform” rating, signaling upside potential and likely contributing to buying interest. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage and analysis notes: Several outlet snapshots and metric analyses (Zacks, Chron) provide deeper context on margins, fleet metrics and seasonal demand — useful for longer-horizon investors but less likely to move price intraday. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue miss and YoY decline: Revenue of $176.3M slightly missed estimates (~$177.3M) and was down ~19.7% year-over-year, indicating demand weakness that could pressure near-term earnings recovery. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Mixed/downgrade signal from JPMorgan: JPMorgan raised its target to $10 but kept an “Underweight” rating — the target implies notable downside vs. the current price and may cap upside for more cautious investors. Article Title

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.