Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) Declares $0.02 Quarterly Dividend

Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 26th will be given a dividend of 0.02 per share by the transportation company on Wednesday, January 7th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 26th.

Heartland Express has a payout ratio of 22.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Heartland Express to earn $0.77 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 10.4%.

Heartland Express Stock Down 1.7%

HTLD stock opened at $9.31 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.40. The company has a market capitalization of $720.90 million, a P/E ratio of -20.90 and a beta of 1.14. Heartland Express has a twelve month low of $6.99 and a twelve month high of $12.19.

Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The transportation company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $172.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $209.68 million. Heartland Express had a negative net margin of 4.01% and a negative return on equity of 4.37%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Heartland Express will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Gate City Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Heartland Express by 167.6% during the 2nd quarter. Gate City Capital Management LLC now owns 1,611,581 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $13,924,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009,388 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Heartland Express during the first quarter worth $6,389,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Heartland Express in the first quarter valued at $5,396,000. Magnolia Group LLC purchased a new position in Heartland Express during the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,062,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Heartland Express by 150.6% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 799,491 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,700,000 after acquiring an additional 480,488 shares during the last quarter. 53.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.