Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The transportation company reported ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by ($0.07), Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $270.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $263.92 million. Heartland Express had a net margin of 1.22% and a return on equity of 1.71%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.16 EPS.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HTLD traded down $0.13 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $10.30. The stock had a trading volume of 27,119 shares, compared to its average volume of 306,951. Heartland Express has a 12-month low of $10.00 and a 12-month high of $17.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $814.01 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.94 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.89.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 26th were paid a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 25th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on HTLD shares. StockNews.com upgraded Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. Barclays dropped their target price on Heartland Express from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Heartland Express from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Heartland Express from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.75.

Insider Transactions at Heartland Express

In related news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 14,933 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $12.39 per share, with a total value of $185,019.87. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 159,865 shares in the company, valued at $1,980,727.35. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 39.80% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Company Profile

Heartland Express, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a short-to-medium, and long-haul truckload carrier in the United States and Canada. It primarily provides nationwide asset-based dry van truckload service for shippers; cross-border freight and other transportation services; and temperature-controlled truckload services.