Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $45.00.

HTLF has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Heartland Financial USA in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Heartland Financial USA from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Heartland Financial USA from $41.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Heartland Financial USA from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, TheStreet lowered shares of Heartland Financial USA from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert B. Engel sold 7,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.26, for a total value of $191,976.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $429,420. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heartland Financial USA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HTLF. HTLF Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA during the 4th quarter worth approximately $55,623,000. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. lifted its position in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 506.3% during the 1st quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. now owns 394,095 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,852,000 after buying an additional 329,095 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Heartland Financial USA during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $11,502,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 470.7% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 272,767 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,028,000 after buying an additional 224,975 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,232,944 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $121,591,000 after buying an additional 88,886 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.55% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Financial USA Stock Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ:HTLF opened at $44.47 on Friday. Heartland Financial USA has a 1-year low of $26.44 and a 1-year high of $45.99. The company has a 50-day moving average of $37.62 and a 200 day moving average of $35.55. The firm has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a PE ratio of 26.79 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The bank reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.08. Heartland Financial USA had a net margin of 8.17% and a return on equity of 11.33%. The company had revenue of $279.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $182.73 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Heartland Financial USA will post 4.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Financial USA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. Heartland Financial USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.29%.

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.