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

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

Heartland Financial USA Trading Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ:HTLF opened at $61.96 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.61 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Heartland Financial USA has a one year low of $32.03 and a one year high of $70.27. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.76.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The bank reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.17. Heartland Financial USA had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 8.79%. The company had revenue of $272.79 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.51 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.12 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Heartland Financial USA will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Financial USA Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. Heartland Financial USA’s payout ratio is 67.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Heartland Financial USA news, Director John K. Schmidt sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.32, for a total value of $1,537,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 60,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,136,161.12. The trade was a 27.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Mark A. Frank sold 432 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.24, for a total transaction of $29,047.68. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,060 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,274.40. The trade was a 28.95 % 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 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heartland Financial USA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HTLF. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Heartland Financial USA by 2.1% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,657,168 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $118,111,000 after acquiring an additional 54,030 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,384,697 shares of the bank’s stock worth $105,999,000 after purchasing an additional 182,245 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 3.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,456,428 shares of the bank’s stock worth $82,579,000 after buying an additional 53,755 shares during the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in Heartland Financial USA during the second quarter valued at approximately $46,626,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 valued at $58,036,000 after buying an additional 47,480 shares during the last quarter. 71.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.