Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD – Get Rating) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,270,000 shares, an increase of 6.7% from the August 15th total of 1,190,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 249,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.1 days. Approximately 2.8% of the company's stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on HTLD shares. StockNews.com downgraded Heartland Express from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 17th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Heartland Express from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 23rd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Heartland Express to $16.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $15.83.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HTLD opened at $14.33 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.34, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $15.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.42. Heartland Express has a 52-week low of $12.78 and a 52-week high of $17.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.19 and a beta of 0.56.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 26th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Heartland Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.57%.

Insider Activity at Heartland Express

In related news, Director Michael John Sullivan purchased 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $14.28 per share, for a total transaction of $28,560.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 14,902 shares in the company, valued at $212,800.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 39.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heartland Express

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 2.9% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 8,127,716 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $114,357,000 after buying an additional 226,297 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,165,836 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $72,684,000 after acquiring an additional 82,033 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 3.1% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,802,741 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $39,436,000 after acquiring an additional 83,806 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 6.3% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,242,869 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $31,601,000 after acquiring an additional 131,978 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 937,290 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $15,765,000 after acquiring an additional 16,955 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 55.31% of the company's stock.

Heartland Express Company Profile

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Heartland Express, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a short-to-medium haul truckload carrier in the United States and Canada. It primarily provides nationwide asset-based dry van truckload service for shippers from Washington to Florida and New England to California; and temperature-controlled truckload services.

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