Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Reaches New 52-Week Low - Here's Why

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $7.91 and last traded at $7.95, with a volume of 223387 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $8.15.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd.

Heartland Express Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $564.24 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.40 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.08. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $9.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.71.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The transportation company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.06) by ($0.12). Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.84% and a negative return on equity of 3.57%. The business had revenue of $219.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $241.37 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.19) EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Heartland Express, Inc. will post 0.17 EPS for the current year.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th were given a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 25th. Heartland Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -21.62%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heartland Express

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Heartland Express by 173.8% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,726 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Heartland Express in the 4th quarter valued at about $75,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Express in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $79,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Heartland Express in the fourth quarter valued at about $105,000. 53.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.