Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) have received an average rating of “Buy” from the five analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $45.60.

HTLF has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Heartland Financial USA in a research report on Saturday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Heartland Financial USA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, May 31st.

Heartland Financial USA Price Performance

Heartland Financial USA stock opened at $56.39 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.97 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $53.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.87. Heartland Financial USA has a 52 week low of $26.44 and a 52 week high of $59.16.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The bank reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $183.19 million. Heartland Financial USA had a return on equity of 11.11% and a net margin of 7.12%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.09 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Heartland Financial USA will post 4.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Financial USA Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. Heartland Financial USA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.29%.

Insider Transactions at Heartland Financial USA

In other Heartland Financial USA news, EVP Lo B. Nestman sold 4,389 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.14, for a total value of $220,064.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 11,207 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 2.1% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 8.3% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Heartland Financial USA in the second quarter worth approximately $46,626,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 2,309.0% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 710,923 shares of the bank’s stock worth $31,601,000 after purchasing an additional 681,412 shares during the last quarter. 71.55% of the stock is 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.