Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.02 EPS

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The transportation company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.02, Zacks reports. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.11% and a negative return on equity of 2.70%.

Heartland Express Stock Down 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:HTLD traded down $0.36 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $11.45. 115,096 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 347,328. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $11.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.91. Heartland Express has a 12-month low of $9.63 and a 12-month high of $13.67. The stock has a market cap of $899.14 million, a P/E ratio of -39.50 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -27.59%.

Insider Activity at Heartland Express

In other news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust bought 49,506 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $12.24 per share, with a total value of $605,953.44. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 898,584 shares in the company, valued at $10,998,668.16. This represents a 5.83 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 5,210 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $11.49 per share, with a total value of $59,862.90. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,265,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,534,872.98. This represents a 0.41 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders purchased 153,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,786,918. 39.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on HTLD. Barclays increased their price target on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $11.75.

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.