Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) Receives $45.60 Average Price Target from Analysts

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

Several brokerages recently commented on HTLF. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Heartland Financial USA from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Heartland Financial USA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Heartland Financial USA in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. They set a “hold” rating for the company.

Heartland Financial USA Price Performance

NASDAQ:HTLF opened at $44.68 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.92 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.12. Heartland Financial USA has a 1 year low of $26.44 and a 1 year high of $45.99.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The bank reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.08. Heartland Financial USA had a return on equity of 11.33% and a net margin of 8.17%. The company had revenue of $279.39 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $182.73 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Heartland Financial USA will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Heartland Financial USA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Heartland Financial USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.29%.

Insider Transactions at Heartland Financial USA

In related news, Director Robert B. Engel sold 5,928 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.20, for a total value of $149,385.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $277,200. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Heartland Financial USA news, Director Robert B. Engel sold 5,928 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.20, for a total transaction of $149,385.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,000 shares in the company, valued at $277,200. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert B. Engel sold 7,600 shares of Heartland Financial USA stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,000 shares in the company, valued at $429,420. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 13,529 shares of company stock valued at $341,387. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. OLD National Bancorp IN purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA during the fourth quarter worth about $3,009,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Heartland Financial USA by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 478,927 shares of the bank’s stock worth $18,012,000 after purchasing an additional 32,044 shares in the last quarter. HTLF Bank purchased a new stake in Heartland Financial USA during the 4th quarter worth approximately $55,623,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Heartland Financial USA by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,232,944 shares of the bank’s stock worth $121,591,000 after purchasing an additional 88,886 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Heartland Financial USA during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $11,502,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.55% 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.