Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.07 EPS

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The transportation company reported ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by ($0.07), Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $270.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $263.92 million. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 1.49% and a negative net margin of 1.13%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.16 earnings per share.

Heartland Express Price Performance

Shares of HTLD opened at $10.33 on Thursday. Heartland Express has a 52-week low of $10.00 and a 52-week high of $17.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $11.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.86.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 26th were paid a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 25th. Heartland Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -47.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heartland Express

In other Heartland Express news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust purchased 14,933 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $12.39 per share, with a total value of $185,019.87. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 159,865 shares in the company, valued at $1,980,727.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 39.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HTLD has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Heartland Express from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 12th. StockNews.com cut Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Heartland Express from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.50.

Heartland Express Company Profile

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.