Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Issues Earnings Results

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The transportation company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 2.82% and a negative net margin of 2.17%. The company had revenue of $274.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $275.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year.

Heartland Express Trading Up 6.0 %

HTLD traded up $0.77 during trading on Thursday, hitting $13.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 274,893 shares, compared to its average volume of 364,640. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $11.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $1.07 billion, a PE ratio of -78.94 and a beta of 0.69. Heartland Express has a twelve month low of $9.63 and a twelve month high of $17.08.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 25th were paid a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 25th. Heartland Express’s payout ratio is currently -47.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heartland Express

In other Heartland Express news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 66,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $10.45 per share, for a total transaction of $689,700.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 518,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,419,307.30. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 66,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $10.45 per share, for a total transaction of $689,700.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,594 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,419,307.30. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael J. Gerdin acquired 31,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $9.97 per share, with a total value of $311,064.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 88,909 shares in the company, valued at $886,422.73. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders acquired 405,490 shares of company stock worth $4,237,451. Insiders own 39.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised Heartland Express from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays decreased their price target on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. UBS Group lowered Heartland Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $15.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $10.00 price target (down previously from $12.00) on shares of Heartland Express in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.80.

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.