Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD - Get Free Report) released its earnings results on Tuesday. The transportation company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.02, Zacks reports. Heartland Express had a negative return on equity of 2.70% and a negative net margin of 2.11%.

Heartland Express Trading Down 2.2 %

NASDAQ:HTLD traded down $0.26 on Tuesday, reaching $11.55. 812,192 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 390,329. The firm has a market capitalization of $906.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -39.83 and a beta of 0.77. The company's 50 day moving average is $11.63 and its 200-day moving average is $11.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Heartland Express has a 1-year low of $9.63 and a 1-year high of $13.67.

Heartland Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Heartland Express's dividend payout ratio is presently -27.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HTLD has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group reduced their price target on Heartland Express from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays boosted their price target on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $11.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heartland Express

In other Heartland Express news, major shareholder Ann S. Gerdin Revocable Trust purchased 49,506 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $12.24 per share, for a total transaction of $605,953.44. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 898,584 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,998,668.16. This represents a 5.83 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Gerdin purchased 5,210 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $11.49 per share, for a total transaction of $59,862.90. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,265,002 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,534,872.98. This represents a 0.41 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 153,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,786,918. 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.