Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the bank’s stock.

Heartland Financial USA Stock Performance

HTLF opened at $61.74 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.01. The firm has a market cap of $2.65 billion, a PE ratio of 34.49 and a beta of 0.97. Heartland Financial USA has a fifty-two week low of $32.03 and a fifty-two week high of $70.27. 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 (NASDAQ:HTLF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The bank reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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 company had revenue of $272.79 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $189.51 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.12 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Heartland Financial USA will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Financial USA Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. Heartland Financial USA’s payout ratio is presently 67.04%.

Insider Transactions at Heartland Financial USA

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

Institutional Trading of Heartland Financial USA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HTLF. USA Financial Formulas increased its stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 1,060 shares of the bank’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Heartland Financial USA during the third quarter worth approximately $125,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Heartland Financial USA by 2,193.4% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,775 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $157,000 after buying an additional 2,654 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in Heartland Financial USA in the second quarter valued at approximately $225,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA in the third quarter valued at approximately $225,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.55% of the company’s stock.

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.