Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) Short Interest Update

Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) was the target of a large growth in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 812,500 shares, a growth of 17.4% from the May 15th total of 691,800 shares. Approximately 2.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 420,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Heartland Financial USA Stock Performance

HTLF opened at $42.93 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a PE ratio of 25.86 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.24. Heartland Financial USA has a fifty-two week low of $26.44 and a fifty-two week high of $45.99.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The bank reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $279.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Heartland Financial USA will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Financial USA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. Heartland Financial USA’s payout ratio is currently 72.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HTLF has been the subject of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Heartland Financial USA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $51.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, May 31st. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Heartland Financial USA in a research note on Monday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Raymond James raised Heartland Financial USA from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $41.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on Heartland Financial USA from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Heartland Financial USA presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert B. Engel sold 5,928 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was 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 directly owns 11,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $277,200. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Robert B. Engel sold 5,928 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was 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 directly owns 11,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $277,200. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert B. Engel sold 7,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was 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 directly owns 17,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $429,420. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,529 shares of company stock valued at $341,387 in the last three months. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Heartland Financial USA

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,244,151 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $114,032,000 after purchasing an additional 11,207 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,043,545 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $76,860,000 after purchasing an additional 62,177 shares in the last quarter. HTLF Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA during the fourth quarter worth $55,623,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 478,927 shares of the bank’s stock worth $18,012,000 after acquiring an additional 32,044 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 23.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 435,990 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,831,000 after acquiring an additional 82,514 shares in the last quarter. 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.