Financial Counselors Inc. Lowers Stake in Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF)

Financial Counselors Inc. lowered its position in shares of Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) by 10.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,911 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,300 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Heartland Financial USA were worth $410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Heartland Financial USA by 46.9% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,031 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in Heartland Financial USA by 10.5% during the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 3,493 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in Heartland Financial USA by 66.3% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 875 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA lifted its holdings in Heartland Financial USA by 2.3% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 16,601 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $690,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Snowden Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Heartland Financial USA by 7.3% during the first quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,443 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $209,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.55% of the company’s stock.

Heartland Financial USA Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of HTLF opened at $33.84 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $33.74 and its 200 day moving average is $33.29. Heartland Financial USA, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.10 and a fifty-two week high of $39.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a PE ratio of 20.02 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The bank reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.40. Heartland Financial USA had a net margin of 8.57% and a return on equity of 11.56%. The company had revenue of $144.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Heartland Financial USA, Inc. will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Financial USA Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Heartland Financial USA’s payout ratio is 71.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HTLF has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. 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 on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. TheStreet cut shares of Heartland Financial USA from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Heartland Financial USA from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Heartland Financial USA in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Heartland Financial USA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.80.

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.