Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) Short Interest Update

Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 617,800 shares, a decrease of 7.4% from the March 15th total of 666,900 shares. Currently, 1.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 255,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on HTLF shares. Raymond James raised shares of Heartland Financial USA from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $41.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. TheStreet cut Heartland Financial USA from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Heartland Financial USA from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report 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 report on Tuesday, January 30th. Three 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.80.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heartland Financial USA

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Heartland Financial USA by 46.9% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,031 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lifted its stake in Heartland Financial USA by 10.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 3,493 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $97,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in Heartland Financial USA by 66.3% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 875 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA increased its position in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 2.3% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Snowden Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 7.3% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. 71.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Heartland Financial USA Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of HTLF traded down $1.01 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $33.30. The stock had a trading volume of 248,557 shares, compared to its average volume of 257,742. Heartland Financial USA has a 12 month low of $26.10 and a 12 month high of $39.39. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market capitalization of $1.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.30 and a beta of 1.06.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The bank reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company 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. Equities research analysts predict that Heartland Financial USA will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heartland Financial USA Announces Dividend

The business 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 3.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Heartland Financial USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.01%.

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.