Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Raises Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) Price Target to $51.00

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) had its target price boosted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $41.00 to $51.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the bank’s stock.

HTLF has been the topic of several other reports. TheStreet downgraded shares of Heartland Financial USA from a b rating to a c+ rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Stephens reissued an overweight rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Heartland Financial USA in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Heartland Financial USA from a market perform rating to a strong-buy rating and set a $41.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Heartland Financial USA from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $45.00.

Heartland Financial USA Stock Up 1.6 %

HTLF traded up $0.68 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $43.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 768,252 shares, compared to its average volume of 325,298. Heartland Financial USA has a 1 year low of $26.10 and a 1 year high of $44.04. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $34.90 and its 200-day moving average is $34.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.47 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The bank reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.08. Heartland Financial USA had a return on equity of 11.50% and a net margin of 8.17%. The company had revenue of $279.39 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $182.73 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Heartland Financial USA will post 4.49 EPS for the current year.

Heartland Financial USA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. Heartland Financial USA’s payout ratio is 72.29%.

Institutional Trading of Heartland Financial USA

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HTLF. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA during the 3rd quarter valued at about $232,000. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Heartland Financial USA by 1.8% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 20,785 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $612,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Heartland Financial USA by 5.4% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 11,560 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $340,000 after buying an additional 593 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Heartland Financial USA by 1.5% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 292,015 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,594,000 after acquiring an additional 4,217 shares during the period. Finally, Bailard Inc. grew its position in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 23,465 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $691,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the period. 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.