Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) Plans $0.30 Quarterly Dividend

Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 2nd,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.30 per share by the bank on Monday, January 27th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th.

Heartland Financial USA has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.7% annually over the last three years. Heartland Financial USA has a payout ratio of 25.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Heartland Financial USA to earn $4.17 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.8%.

Heartland Financial USA Price Performance

NASDAQ HTLF opened at $60.42 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a PE ratio of 33.75 and a beta of 0.98. Heartland Financial USA has a 52 week low of $32.03 and a 52 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. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.37.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The bank reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Heartland Financial USA will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John K. Schmidt sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now owns 60,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,136,161.12. This trade represents a 27.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Jennifer K. Hopkins sold 5,811 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,420.28. The trade was a 45.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 28,743 shares of company stock valued at $1,958,839. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Heartland Financial USA in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.60.

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.