Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Announces Earnings Results

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The transportation company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by ($0.11), Briefing.com reports. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 2.84% and a negative net margin of 2.17%. The company had revenue of $259.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $268.35 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.14) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Shares of HTLD stock traded down $0.30 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $11.08. 143,627 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 344,366. Heartland Express has a fifty-two week low of $9.63 and a fifty-two week high of $14.60. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $11.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.76. The company has a market cap of $875.89 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -64.88 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio is -47.06%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on HTLD shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “underweight” rating and set a $10.00 price objective (down previously from $12.00) on shares of Heartland Express in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group cut shares of Heartland Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $15.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.00.

Insider Transactions at Heartland Express

In related news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 50,000 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $11.67 per share, for a total transaction of $583,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,196,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,965,699.06. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 39.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Heartland Express

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.