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Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) shareholders (or potential shareholders) will be happy to see that the Chairman of the Board, Michael Gerdin, recently bought a whopping US$1.3m worth of stock, at a price of US$13.08. There's no denying a buy of that magnitude suggests conviction in a brighter future, although we do note that proportionally it only increased their holding by 1.2%.
See our latest analysis for Heartland Express
Heartland Express Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
Notably, that recent purchase by Chairman of the Board Michael Gerdin was not the only time they bought Heartland Express shares this year. Earlier in the year, they paid US$14.87 per share in a US$2.9m purchase. That means that even when the share price was higher than US$13.26 (the recent price), an insider wanted to purchase shares. Their view may have changed since then, but at least it shows they felt optimistic at the time. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock if insiders have bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price.
While Heartland Express insiders bought shares during the last year, they didn't sell. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!
Heartland Express is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.
Does Heartland Express Boast High Insider Ownership?
For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. It's great to see that Heartland Express insiders own 10% of the company, worth about US$109m. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.
So What Do The Heartland Express Insider Transactions Indicate?
It is good to see recent purchasing. And the longer term insider transactions also give us confidence. Once you factor in the high insider ownership, it certainly seems like insiders are positive about Heartland Express. Looks promising! So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. To assist with this, we've discovered 2 warning signs that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of Heartland Express.