Insider Selling: Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) Director Sells 22,500 Shares of Stock

Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) Director John K. Schmidt sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.32, for a total transaction of $1,537,200.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 60,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,136,161.12. This represents a 27.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Heartland Financial USA Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of HTLF stock opened at $66.07 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Heartland Financial USA, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $29.67 and a fifty-two week high of $69.91. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.23. The stock has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.91 and a beta of 0.94.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last posted 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 company 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.12 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Heartland Financial USA, Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Financial USA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. Heartland Financial USA’s payout ratio is 67.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Heartland Financial USA in a research note on Friday, November 8th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.60.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. USA Financial Formulas lifted its position in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 28.0% during the third quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 1,060 shares of the bank’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA in the 2nd quarter worth $83,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Heartland Financial USA in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $125,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 2,193.4% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,775 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $157,000 after buying an additional 2,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, High Note Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Heartland Financial USA in the 3rd quarter worth $238,000. 71.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.