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

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, June 13th, RTT News reports. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.92%.

Heartland Express has a payout ratio of 22.9% indicating that 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 Stock Down 1.8%

HTLD stock traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $8.70. 353,299 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 442,248. The company has a market capitalization of $683.42 million, a PE ratio of -23.51 and a beta of 1.07. 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 twelve month low of $7.11 and a twelve month high of $13.67. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.01.

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

Insider Activity at Heartland Express

In related news, Director James G. Pratt purchased 6,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $8.96 per share, for a total transaction of $58,876.16. Following the transaction, the director now owns 30,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $268,800. This represents a 28.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 148,272 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $7.85 per share, for a total transaction of $1,163,935.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,461,868 shares in the company, valued at $11,475,663.80. This represents a 11.29% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 619,031 shares of company stock worth $5,125,232 in the last ninety days. 40.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Heartland Express

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in shares of Heartland Express during the 1st quarter worth about $133,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the 1st quarter worth approximately $907,000. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.