Heartland Express, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.02 (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 8th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 23rd will be paid a dividend of 0.02 per share by the transportation company on Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 23rd.

Heartland Express has a payout ratio of 22.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Heartland Express to earn $0.77 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 10.4%.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HTLD traded up $0.26 on Monday, hitting $8.96. The company had a trading volume of 413,978 shares, compared to its average volume of 442,135. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Heartland Express has a 52-week low of $7.11 and a 52-week high of $13.67. The business has a 50 day moving average of $8.54 and a 200 day moving average of $9.96. The company has a market cap of $703.84 million, a PE ratio of -24.22 and a beta of 1.07.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The transportation company reported ($0.18) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by ($0.05). Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.84% and a negative return on equity of 3.57%. The company had revenue of $219.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $241.37 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.19) earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Heartland Express will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays dropped their target price on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Heartland Express from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin bought 148,272 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $7.85 per share, with a total value of $1,163,935.20. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,461,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,475,663.80. This represents a 11.29% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director James G. Pratt bought 6,571 shares of Heartland Express stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $8.96 per share, for a total transaction of $58,876.16. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 30,000 shares in the company, valued at $268,800. The trade was a 28.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 619,031 shares of company stock worth $5,125,232. 40.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of HTLD. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in Heartland Express by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 27,708 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 1,170 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new position in Heartland Express during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $133,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new position in Heartland Express during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $907,000. Institutional investors own 53.45% of the company's stock.

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.