Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) & Renasant (NASDAQ:RNST) Head to Head Survey

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) and Renasant (NASDAQ:RNST) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, risk and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Heartland Financial USA and Renasant’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Heartland Financial USA	8.79%	10.81%	1.09%
Renasant	16.83%	6.70%	0.92%

Volatility and Risk

Heartland Financial USA has a beta of 0.98, suggesting that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Renasant has a beta of 1.03, suggesting that its stock price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Heartland Financial USA pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Renasant pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Heartland Financial USA pays out 67.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Renasant pays out 28.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Renasant is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Heartland Financial USA and Renasant”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Heartland Financial USA	$932.87 million	2.97	$79.92 million	$1.79	36.08
Renasant	$910.39 million	2.50	$144.68 million	$3.07	11.68

Renasant has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Heartland Financial USA. Renasant is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Heartland Financial USA, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

71.6% of Heartland Financial USA shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.3% of Renasant shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of Heartland Financial USA shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Renasant shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Heartland Financial USA and Renasant, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Heartland Financial USA	0	1	3	1	3.00
Renasant	0	2	4	0	2.67

Heartland Financial USA presently has a consensus price target of $45.60, suggesting a potential downside of 29.40%. Renasant has a consensus price target of $40.17, suggesting a potential upside of 12.06%. Given Renasant’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Renasant is more favorable than Heartland Financial USA.

Summary

Renasant beats Heartland Financial USA on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

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. It offers loans, including commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, agricultural, small business, and real estate mortgage loans; consumer loans comprising motor vehicle, home improvement, home equity line of credit, and fixed rate home equity and personal lines of credit; and credit cards for commercial, business, and personal use. In addition, the company provides business and personal online banking, and mobile banking; bill payment, remote deposit capture, and treasury management services; debit cards; automated teller machines; and automated clearing house services, wire transfers, insured cash sweeps, zero balance accounts, lockbox, image cash letter, remote deposit capture, commercial cards for travel and entertainment purchasing, merchant services to receive credit card payments, investment sweep accounts, reconciliation services, online invoice processing, foreign exchange and positive pay fraud prevention services for checks and automated clearing house services payments. Further, it offers wealth management, trust services, brokerage services, and fixed rate annuity products; and investment services, including mutual funds, individual retirement products, and education savings products. Heartland Financial USA, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

About Renasant

Renasant Corporation operates as a bank holding company for Renasant Bank that provides a range of financial, wealth management, fiduciary, and insurance services to retail and commercial customers. The company operates through Community Banks, Insurance, and Wealth Management segments. The Community Banks segment offers checking and savings accounts, business and personal loans, asset-based lending, and factoring equipment leasing services, as well as safe deposit and night depository facilities. It also provides commercial, financial, and agricultural loans; equipment financing and leasing; real estate1-4 family mortgage; real estatecommercial mortgage; real estateconstruction loans for the construction of single family residential properties, multi-family properties, and commercial projects; installment loans to individuals; and interim construction loans, as well as automated teller machine (ATM), online and mobile banking, call center, and treasury management services. The Insurance segment provides insurance agency services, such as commercial and personal insurance products through insurance carriers. The Wealth Management segment offers a range of wealth management and fiduciary services, including administration and management of trust accounts, such as personal and corporate benefit accounts, and custodial accounts, as well as accounting and money management for trust accounts; annuities, mutual funds, and other investment services through a third party broker-dealer; administrative and compliance services; and qualified retirement plans, IRAs, employee benefit plans, personal trusts, and estates. Renasant Corporation was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi.