Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

Analysts at StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) in a research report issued on Saturday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the bank’s stock.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Heartland Financial USA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.60.

Heartland Financial USA Price Performance

HTLF opened at $57.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.58 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.56. Heartland Financial USA has a 52-week low of $26.44 and a 52-week high of $59.16.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The bank reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $188.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $183.19 million. Heartland Financial USA had a net margin of 7.12% and a return on equity of 11.11%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.09 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Heartland Financial USA will post 4.72 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Heartland Financial USA news, EVP Lo B. Nestman sold 4,389 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.14, for a total transaction of $220,064.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heartland Financial USA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HTLF. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Heartland Financial USA during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Clarity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Heartland Financial USA during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Heartland Financial USA during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $83,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Heartland Financial USA by 37,550.0% during the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,259 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 2,253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Heartland Financial USA by 695.2% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,807 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $99,000 after buying an additional 2,454 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.55% of the company’s stock.

About Heartland Financial USA

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.