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

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

Heartland Financial USA Stock Performance

Shares of HTLF opened at $67.53 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.90 billion, a PE ratio of 37.73 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $59.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $52.31. 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 1 year low of $29.67 and a 1 year high of $69.91.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The bank reported $1.17 EPS 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 business had revenue of $272.79 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $189.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Heartland Financial USA will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Heartland Financial USA Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. Heartland Financial USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Heartland Financial USA news, Director John K. Schmidt sold 22,500 shares of Heartland Financial USA stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 60,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,136,161.12. The trade was a 27.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heartland Financial USA

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 8.5% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,600 shares of the bank’s stock worth $267,000 after purchasing an additional 598 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 0.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,244,151 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $114,032,000 after acquiring an additional 11,207 shares during the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA during the second quarter worth about $209,000. Steele Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 193.9% in the second quarter. Steele Capital Management Inc. now owns 33,842 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,504,000 after purchasing an additional 22,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 4.3% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 302,294 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,437,000 after purchasing an additional 12,565 shares during the last quarter. 71.55% of the stock is 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.