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

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) in a research report issued on Monday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the bank’s stock.

Heartland Financial USA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HTLF opened at $67.57 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business has a 50-day moving average of $60.95 and a 200-day moving average of $53.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.75 and a beta of 0.94. Heartland Financial USA has a fifty-two week low of $30.65 and a fifty-two week high of $70.27.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The bank reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.17. The firm had revenue of $272.79 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Heartland Financial USA will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John K. Schmidt sold 22,500 shares of Heartland Financial USA stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.32, for a total transaction of $1,537,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 60,541 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,136,161.12. The trade was a 27.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Mark A. Frank sold 432 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 1,060 shares in the company, valued at $71,274.40. The trade was a 28.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heartland Financial USA

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Water Island Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA during the 2nd quarter worth about $800,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new position in Heartland Financial USA in the 2nd quarter valued at about $601,000. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in Heartland Financial USA in the 2nd quarter valued at about $46,626,000. Slotnik Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Heartland Financial USA during the second quarter worth approximately $13,714,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 5.1% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 144,397 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,418,000 after acquiring an additional 7,017 shares during the period. 71.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.