Heartland Express (HTLD) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. The company offers its services under the Heartland Express and Millis Transfer brand names. It primarily serves retailers and manufacturers in consumer goods, appliances, food products, and automotive industries. The company was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in North Liberty, Iowa.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $9.30 to $9.55
• 50-Day Range: $9.20 to $11.92
• 52-Week Range: $9.11 to $13.67
• Volume: 454,864 shs
• Average Volume: 386,675 shs
• Market Capitalization: $742.30 million
• P/E Ratio: N/A
• Dividend Yield: 0.85%
• Price Target: $11.00
• Consensus Rating: Sell

Heartland Express Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Heartland Express scored higher than 73% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 65th out of 131 stocks in the transportation sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Sell

Consensus Rating

Heartland Express has received a consensus rating of Sell. The company's average rating score is 1.33, and is based on no buy ratings, 1 hold rating, and 2 sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Heartland Express has received no research coverage in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 352.94%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Heartland Express are expected to grow by 352.94% in the coming year, from $0.17 to $0.77 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Heartland Express is -25.54, which means that its earnings are negative and its P/E ratio cannot be compared to companies with positive earnings.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Heartland Express is -25.54, which means that its earnings are negative and its P/E ratio cannot be compared to companies with positive earnings.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Heartland Express has a P/B Ratio of 0.90. P/B Ratios below 1 indicate that a company could be undervalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 4.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

1.91% of the float of Heartland Express has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Heartland Express has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 1.7, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Heartland Express has recently decreased by 1.38%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

Dividend

• Score: 0.8 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Weak

Dividend Yield

Heartland Express has a dividend yield of 0.85%, which is in the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Heartland Express does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Heartland Express will have a dividend payout ratio of 10.39% next year. This indicates that Heartland Express will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 0.0 / 5
• Environmental Score: -6.14

Percentage of Shares Shorted

1.91% of the float of Heartland Express has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Heartland Express has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 1.7, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Heartland Express has recently decreased by 1.38%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

News and Social Media

• Score: 2.9 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.14

News Sentiment

Heartland Express has a news sentiment score of 1.14. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.76 average news sentiment score of Transportation companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 3 news articles for Heartland Express this week, compared to 3 articles on an average week.

MarketBeat Follows

2 people have added Heartland Express to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 100% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Heartland Express insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

39.60% of the stock of Heartland Express is held by insiders. A high percentage of insider ownership can be a sign of company health.

Percentage Held by Institutions

53.45% of the stock of Heartland Express is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

HTLD Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have HTLD shares performed this year?

Heartland Express' stock was trading at $11.22 at the beginning of 2025. Since then, HTLD shares have decreased by 15.8% and is now trading at $9.45.
View the best growth stocks for 2025 here.

How were Heartland Express' earnings last quarter?

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January, 28th. The transportation company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.02. Heartland Express had a negative trailing twelve-month return on equity of 3.57% and a negative net margin of 2.84%.

Who are Heartland Express' major shareholders?

Heartland Express' top institutional shareholders include Vanguard Group Inc. (6.22%), Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (4.47%), ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC (3.66%) and American Century Companies Inc. (1.95%). Insiders that own company stock include Michael J Gerdin, Ann S Gerdin Revocable Trust, Michael John Sullivan and James G Pratt.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Heartland Express?

Shares of HTLD stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of Heartland Express own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Heartland Express investors own include Invesco QQQ (QQQ), SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA), NVIDIA (NVDA), Meta Platforms (META), Tesla (TSLA) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

Company Calendar

• Record date for 1/8 Dividend: 12/27/2024
• Ex-Dividend for 1/8 Dividend: 12/27/2024
• Dividend Payable: 1/08/2025
• Last Earnings: 1/28/2025
• Record date for 4/4 Dividend: 3/25/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 4/4 Dividend: 3/25/2025
• Today: 3/28/2025
• Dividend Payable: 4/04/2025
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 4/22/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Transportation
• Industry: Trucking, except local
• Sub-Industry: Trucking
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:HTLD
• CIK: 799233
• Web: www.heartlandexpress.com
• Phone: (319) 626-3600
• Fax: 319-626-3311
• Employees: 3,180
• Year Founded: 1978

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $11.00
• High Stock Price Target: $12.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $10.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +16.4%
• Consensus Rating: Sell
• Rating Score (0-4): 1.33
• Research Coverage: 3 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): ($0.37)
• Trailing P/E Ratio: N/A
• Forward P/E Ratio: 55.59
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $-29,720,000.00
• Net Margins: -2.84%
• Pretax Margin: -3.50%
• Return on Equity: -3.57%
• Return on Assets: -2.14%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.23
• Current Ratio: 1.08
• Quick Ratio: 1.17

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $1.05 billion
• Price / Sales: 0.71
• Cash Flow: $1.74 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 5.43
• Book Value: $10.47 per share
• Price / Book: 0.90

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 78,550,000
• Free Float: 47,444,000
• Market Cap: $742.30 million
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.80