Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the five ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $39.80.

Several research analysts have weighed in on HTLF shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Heartland Financial USA from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating 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. TheStreet cut shares of Heartland Financial USA from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Heartland Financial USA in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th.

Heartland Financial USA Stock Up 0.8 %

HTLF stock opened at $35.07 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $33.79 and its 200-day moving average is $33.52. Heartland Financial USA has a twelve month low of $26.10 and a twelve month high of $39.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.50 billion, a PE ratio of 20.75 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. HTLF Bank bought a new stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA during the 4th quarter valued at $55,623,000. Versor Investments LP bought a new position in Heartland Financial USA in the 3rd quarter valued at $245,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 446,883 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,152,000 after purchasing an additional 34,571 shares in the last quarter. EJF Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Heartland Financial USA in the third quarter worth $1,299,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 70.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 209,120 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,865,000 after buying an additional 86,285 shares in the last quarter. 71.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.