Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

Investment analysts at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) in a note issued to investors on Wednesday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the bank’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Heartland Financial USA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, May 31st. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Heartland Financial USA from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Heartland Financial USA currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.60.

Heartland Financial USA Stock Up 0.1 %

HTLF opened at $55.34 on Wednesday. Heartland Financial USA has a twelve month low of $26.44 and a twelve month high of $56.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.76. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $49.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.34 and a beta of 0.96.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The bank reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $188.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $183.19 million. Heartland Financial USA had a net margin of 7.12% and a return on equity of 11.29%. Heartland Financial USA’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.09 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Heartland Financial USA will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert B. Engel sold 5,928 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now owns 11,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $277,200. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 sale, the director now 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 is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lo B. Nestman sold 4,389 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.14, for a total transaction of $220,064.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,318 shares of company stock worth $369,475 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Heartland Financial USA

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Heartland Financial USA during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Clarity Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Heartland Financial USA during the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Heartland Financial USA in the second quarter valued at about $83,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Heartland Financial USA by 37,550.0% during the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,259 shares of the bank’s stock worth $85,000 after buying an additional 2,253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 695.2% during the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,807 shares of the bank’s stock worth $99,000 after buying an additional 2,454 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.55% of the company’s stock.

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.