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

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

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on HTLF. DA Davidson raised 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Heartland Financial USA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $51.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of Heartland Financial USA from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $41.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.60.

Heartland Financial USA Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:HTLF opened at $43.19 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $1.85 billion, a PE ratio of 26.02 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $42.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.67. Heartland Financial USA has a fifty-two week low of $26.44 and a fifty-two week high of $45.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The bank reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $279.39 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $182.73 million. Heartland Financial USA had a net margin of 8.17% and a return on equity of 11.33%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Heartland Financial USA will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Heartland Financial USA

In other news, Director Robert B. Engel sold 7,600 shares of Heartland Financial USA stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 17,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $429,420. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Robert B. Engel sold 5,928 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were 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 directly owns 11,000 shares in the company, valued at $277,200. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert B. Engel sold 7,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 17,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $429,420. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,529 shares of company stock valued at $341,387 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Heartland Financial USA

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Heartland Financial USA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Clarity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Heartland Financial USA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Heartland Financial USA by 37,550.0% in the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,259 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $85,000 after acquiring an additional 2,253 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Heartland Financial USA by 695.2% in the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,807 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 2,454 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Heartland Financial USA in the first quarter valued at approximately $167,000. 71.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.