Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) has received a consensus rating of “Buy” from the five analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $45.60.

Separately, StockNews.com began coverage on Heartland Financial USA in a report on Thursday, December 26th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock.

Insider Transactions at Heartland Financial USA

In other Heartland Financial USA news, Director John K. Schmidt sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.32, for a total transaction of $1,537,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 60,541 shares in the company, valued at $4,136,161.12. This represents a 27.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Jennifer K. Hopkins sold 5,811 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total transaction of $392,591.16. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,420.28. The trade was a 45.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,743 shares of company stock worth $1,958,839 over the last three months. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heartland Financial USA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HTLF. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 8.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 28,679 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,626,000 after purchasing an additional 2,136 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in Heartland Financial USA in the third quarter valued at approximately $303,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Heartland Financial USA by 4.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,023,370 shares of the bank’s stock worth $58,036,000 after purchasing an additional 47,480 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 65.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 84,767 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,807,000 after purchasing an additional 33,533 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd increased its stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 128.0% during the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 11,541 shares of the bank’s stock worth $654,000 after purchasing an additional 6,479 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.55% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Financial USA Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:HTLF opened at $60.87 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Heartland Financial USA has a 52 week low of $32.03 and a 52 week high of $70.27. The business’s 50 day moving average is $64.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.53. The company has a market cap of $2.61 billion, a PE ratio of 34.01 and a beta of 0.97.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The bank reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.17. Heartland Financial USA had a net margin of 8.79% and a return on equity of 10.81%. The firm had revenue of $272.79 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.51 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.12 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Heartland Financial USA will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Heartland Financial USA Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. Heartland Financial USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.04%.

Heartland Financial USA Company Profile

Heartland Financial USA, Inc, a bank holding company, provides commercial, small business, and consumer banking services to individuals and businesses in the United States. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, demand deposit accounts, NOW accounts, savings, money market, and individual retirement; certificates of deposit; and other time deposits.