StockNews.com Begins Coverage on Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF)

Equities research analysts at StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) in a note issued to investors on Saturday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the bank’s stock.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Heartland Financial USA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Heartland Financial USA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.60.

Heartland Financial USA Trading Down 2.6 %

HTLF stock opened at $57.41 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $53.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.56. Heartland Financial USA has a fifty-two week low of $26.44 and a fifty-two week high of $59.16. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a PE ratio of 34.58 and a beta of 0.95.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The bank reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $188.92 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $183.19 million. Heartland Financial USA had a net margin of 7.12% and a return on equity of 11.11%. Heartland Financial USA’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.09 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Heartland Financial USA will post 4.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Heartland Financial USA

In other news, EVP Lo B. Nestman sold 4,389 shares of Heartland Financial USA stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.14, for a total transaction of $220,064.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Heartland Financial USA

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Clarity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA in the fourth quarter valued at about $50,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA in the second quarter valued at about $83,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 37,550.0% in the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,259 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $85,000 after acquiring an additional 2,253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Heartland Financial USA by 695.2% in the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,807 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 2,454 shares during the last quarter. 71.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.