Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the five analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $45.60.

Separately, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Heartland Financial USA in a research note on Friday. They set a “hold” rating for the company.

Heartland Financial USA Price Performance

HTLF stock opened at $61.96 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market capitalization of $2.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.61 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.76. Heartland Financial USA has a twelve month low of $32.03 and a twelve month high of $70.27.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The bank reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, meeting 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 firm had revenue of $272.79 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.51 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.12 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Heartland Financial USA will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Heartland Financial USA Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Heartland Financial USA

In other Heartland Financial USA news, EVP Mark A. Frank sold 432 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.24, for a total value of $29,047.68. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $71,274.40. This trade represents a 28.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John K. Schmidt sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,136,161.12. This trade 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 worth $1,958,839 over the last ninety days. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Heartland Financial USA

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in Heartland Financial USA in the second quarter valued at about $46,626,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 2,309.0% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 710,923 shares of the bank’s stock worth $31,601,000 after acquiring an additional 681,412 shares during the period. Westchester Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Heartland Financial USA by 260.1% in the 3rd quarter. Westchester Capital Management LLC now owns 582,880 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $33,049,000 after purchasing an additional 421,000 shares in the last quarter. Slotnik Capital LLC acquired a new position in Heartland Financial USA during the second quarter worth $13,714,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in Heartland Financial USA during the second quarter worth $10,601,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.