Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) posted its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $259.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $268.35 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 2.70% and a negative net margin of 2.11%. The company’s revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.14) EPS.

Heartland Express Price Performance

NASDAQ HTLD traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $10.97. 86,734 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 345,584. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.75. Heartland Express has a 1 year low of $9.63 and a 1 year high of $14.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The company has a market cap of $861.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -37.72 and a beta of 0.69.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were given a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. Heartland Express’s payout ratio is -27.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on HTLD shares. StockNews.com upgraded Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays increased their price objective on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $10.00 price objective (down previously from $12.00) on shares of Heartland Express in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heartland Express

In other news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $11.67 per share, for a total transaction of $583,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 39.60% 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.