Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report) announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The transportation company reported ($0.19) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.12) by ($0.07), Briefing.com reports. Heartland Express had a net margin of 1.22% and a return on equity of 1.71%. The company had revenue of $270.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $263.92 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.16 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year.

Heartland Express Trading Down 1.0 %

HTLD stock traded down $0.10 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $10.33. 430,659 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 312,018. The company has a market capitalization of $816.38 million, a P/E ratio of 57.22 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. Heartland Express has a fifty-two week low of $10.00 and a fifty-two week high of $17.08. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $11.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.86.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 26th were given a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 25th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. Heartland Express's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.44%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust acquired 14,933 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $12.39 per share, for a total transaction of $185,019.87. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 159,865 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,980,727.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 39.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on HTLD. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Heartland Express from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Heartland Express presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $13.50.

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.