Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) Now Covered by StockNews.com

Stock analysts at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the bank’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on HTLF. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Heartland Financial USA from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Heartland Financial USA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of Heartland Financial USA from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $41.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Heartland Financial USA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.60.

Heartland Financial USA Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of HTLF stock opened at $43.96 on Friday. Heartland Financial USA has a 1-year low of $26.44 and a 1-year high of $45.99. The firm has a market cap of $1.88 billion, a PE ratio of 26.48 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50-day moving average of $39.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The bank reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $279.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $182.73 million. Heartland Financial USA had a net margin of 8.17% and a return on equity of 11.33%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.22 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Heartland Financial USA will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Heartland Financial USA

In other Heartland Financial USA news, Director Robert B. Engel sold 7,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.26, for a total transaction of $191,976.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $429,420. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Heartland Financial USA

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HTLF. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Heartland Financial USA by 48.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,132 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $445,000 after purchasing an additional 4,923 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in Heartland Financial USA by 66.3% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 875 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Heartland Financial USA by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 72,892 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,145,000 after acquiring an additional 3,341 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 394,952 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $11,623,000 after purchasing an additional 9,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Heartland Financial USA in the third quarter valued at approximately $774,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.