Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Announces Earnings Results

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) posted its earnings results on Tuesday. The transportation company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by ($0.11), Briefing.com reports. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.17% and a negative return on equity of 2.84%. The firm had revenue of $259.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $268.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.14) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Heartland Express stock traded down $0.30 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $11.08. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 143,627 shares, compared to its average volume of 344,366. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $875.89 million, a P/E ratio of -64.88 and a beta of 0.69. Heartland Express has a twelve month low of $9.63 and a twelve month high of $14.60. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $11.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.76.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were given a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -47.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $10.00 target price (down previously from $12.00) on shares of Heartland Express in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. UBS Group cut Heartland Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $15.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com raised Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $11.67 per share, for a total transaction of $583,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,196,718 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,965,699.06. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 39.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.