Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Buy” Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

HTLD has been the topic of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Heartland Express in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley set a $12.00 target price on Heartland Express in a research note on Friday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Heartland Express from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. UBS Group raised their target price on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. 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 MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $12.20.

Heartland Express Price Performance

HTLD opened at $13.30 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $11.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.04. Heartland Express has a 1 year low of $6.99 and a 1 year high of $13.92. The firm has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.75 and a beta of 1.28.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 24th. The transportation company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.07. The business had revenue of $153.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $177.30 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 3.70% and a negative net margin of 5.69%.Heartland Express’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.18) EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Heartland Express will post 0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,905 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 185.5% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,673 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 3,036 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the third quarter worth $89,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 3,737.9% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 10,746 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $112,000 after purchasing an additional 10,466 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

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.