Insider Selling: Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) Director Sells $1,537,200.00 in Stock

Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) Director John K. Schmidt sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 60,541 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,136,161.12. This trade represents a 27.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Heartland Financial USA Stock Performance

Shares of HTLF opened at $65.58 on Friday. Heartland Financial USA, Inc. has a one year low of $29.67 and a one year high of $69.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.64 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50-day moving average of $58.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.40.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The bank reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17. The business had revenue of $272.79 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 company posted $1.12 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Heartland Financial USA, Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Heartland Financial USA Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. Heartland Financial USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Heartland Financial USA in a research note on Saturday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.60.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. USA Financial Formulas grew its holdings in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 1,060 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Heartland Financial USA in the second quarter valued at about $83,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Heartland Financial USA in the 3rd quarter worth about $125,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 2,193.4% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,775 shares of the bank’s stock worth $157,000 after purchasing an additional 2,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Affirmative Financial Network acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA during the 2nd quarter valued at about $209,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.