Whelan Financial Sells 4,417 Shares of Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF)

Whelan Financial lowered its stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) by 32.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,295 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 4,417 shares during the period. Whelan Financial’s holdings in Heartland Financial USA were worth $327,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Heartland Financial USA in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Phocas Financial Corp. lifted its stake in Heartland Financial USA by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Phocas Financial Corp. now owns 91,960 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,459,000 after acquiring an additional 879 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 19,032 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $716,000 after acquiring an additional 998 shares during the period. Clarity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Heartland Financial USA during the 4th quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, TFO Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 37,550.0% in the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,259 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 2,253 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HTLF has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Heartland Financial USA from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Heartland Financial USA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Heartland Financial USA in a report on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.60.

Heartland Financial USA Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HTLF traded down $0.64 during trading on Thursday, reaching $43.89. 89,779 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 220,911. Heartland Financial USA, Inc. has a 12 month low of $26.44 and a 12 month high of $45.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $43.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market cap of $1.88 billion, a PE ratio of 26.44 and a beta of 0.97.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The bank reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $279.39 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $182.73 million. Heartland Financial USA had a return on equity of 11.33% and a net margin of 8.17%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.22 EPS. Research analysts expect that Heartland Financial USA, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Financial USA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. Heartland Financial USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heartland Financial USA

In other news, Director Robert B. Engel sold 7,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.26, for a total transaction of $191,976.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $429,420. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Robert B. Engel sold 7,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.26, for a total transaction of $191,976.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $429,420. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert B. Engel sold 5,928 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.20, for a total transaction of $149,385.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $277,200. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,529 shares of company stock valued at $341,387 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.80% 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.