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

Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF - Get Free Report) 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 payment by an average of 7.7% per year over the last three years. Heartland Financial USA has a dividend payout ratio of 25.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Stock Performance

Shares of HTLF traded up $1.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $61.96. The stock had a trading volume of 159,149 shares, compared to its average volume of 190,424. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $64.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.66. Heartland Financial USA has a fifty-two week low of $32.03 and a fifty-two week high of $70.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.61 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The bank reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.17. The firm 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 previous year, the business earned $1.12 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Heartland Financial USA will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Heartland Financial USA

In other Heartland Financial USA news, Director Jennifer K. Hopkins sold 5,811 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total value of $392,591.16. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,963 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $470,420.28. This represents a 45.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John K. Schmidt sold 22,500 shares of Heartland Financial USA stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 60,541 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,136,161.12. This trade represents a 27.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 28,743 shares of company stock worth $1,958,839. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com assumed 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $45.60.

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.