Heartland Financial USA, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.30 (NASDAQ:HTLF)

Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 3rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.30 per share by the bank on Monday, January 27th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th.

Heartland Financial USA has raised its dividend by an average of 7.7% annually over the last three years. Heartland Financial USA has a dividend payout ratio of 25.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Heartland Financial USA to earn $4.17 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.8%.

Heartland Financial USA Trading Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ:HTLF opened at $61.96 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.61 and a beta of 0.98. Heartland Financial USA has a 1-year low of $32.03 and a 1-year high of $70.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The bank reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17. The company had revenue of $272.79 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 prior year, the company earned $1.12 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Heartland Financial USA will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com began coverage on Heartland Financial USA in a report on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Heartland Financial USA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John K. Schmidt sold 22,500 shares of Heartland Financial USA stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.32, for a total value of $1,537,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 60,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,136,161.12. This trade represents a 27.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jennifer K. Hopkins sold 5,811 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total transaction of $392,591.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,420.28. The trade was a 45.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 28,743 shares of company stock valued at $1,958,839 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

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.