Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) Trading Down 5.4% After Earnings Miss

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD)’s stock price traded down 5.4% during trading on Thursday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as low as $7.12 and last traded at $7.19. 215,447 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 409,336 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.60.

The transportation company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $219.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $241.37 million. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.84% and a negative return on equity of 3.57%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.19) earnings per share.

Heartland Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th were given a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. Heartland Express’s payout ratio is currently -22.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HTLD has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays cut their target price on Heartland Express from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Heartland Express from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in Heartland Express by 173.8% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,726 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Heartland Express by 317.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,236 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 2,460 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Heartland Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $75,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Heartland Express during the 4th quarter valued at $79,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.45% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Express Trading Up 5.8 %

The firm has a market cap of $612.53 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.08 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The business has a 50 day moving average of $8.97 and a 200 day moving average of $10.66.

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.