Heartland Express, Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.02 (NASDAQ:HTLD)

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, September 25th will be given a dividend of 0.02 per share by the transportation company on Wednesday, October 7th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 25th.

Heartland Express has a payout ratio of 22.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Heartland Express to earn $0.53 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.1%.

Heartland Express Stock Up 0.6%

HTLD stock opened at $12.52 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $968.17 million, a PE ratio of -44.71 and a beta of 1.33. Heartland Express has a 1 year low of $6.99 and a 1 year high of $16.64. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The transportation company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $152.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $185.08 million. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 2.98% and a negative return on equity of 0.92%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.14) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Heartland Express will post 0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HTLD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Heartland Express in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Heartland Express from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Heartland Express from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Heartland Express from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Heartland Express from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $13.00.

Heartland Express Company Profile

Heartland Express, Inc is a transportation and logistics company that provides asset-based truckload services in North America. The company primarily operates a fleet of dry van tractors and trailers, transporting general freight that does not require temperature control.

Its services include irregular-route and regional truckload transportation, dedicated freight, expedited shipping, and logistics support. Heartland Express serves customers across the United States and also provides cross-border transportation involving Canada and Mexico.

Founded in 1978, the company is headquartered in North Liberty, Iowa.