Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (HTLF) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.30 on January 27th

Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 3rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be given a dividend of 0.30 per share by the bank on Monday, January 27th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 14th.

Heartland Financial USA has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.7% annually over the last three years. Heartland Financial USA has a payout ratio of 25.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Heartland Financial USA to earn $4.17 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.8%.

Heartland Financial USA Stock Up 1.8 %

HTLF stock opened at $61.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Heartland Financial USA has a 1-year low of $32.03 and a 1-year high of $70.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.61 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $64.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.76.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The bank reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17. The business had revenue of $272.79 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $189.51 million. Heartland Financial USA had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 8.79%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.12 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Heartland Financial USA will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Heartland Financial USA in a research report on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Two 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.60.

Insider Activity at Heartland Financial USA

In other news, EVP Mark A. Frank sold 432 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.24, for a total value of $29,047.68. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,274.40. This trade represents a 28.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John K. Schmidt sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.32, for a total value of $1,537,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 60,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,136,161.12. This trade represents a 27.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 28,743 shares of company stock worth $1,958,839. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Heartland Financial USA Company Profile

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.