Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires Shares of 12,230 Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 12,230 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $460,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 84.0% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 65,785 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,146,000 after buying an additional 30,040 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 41.5% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 20,517 shares of the bank’s stock worth $981,000 after buying an additional 6,014 shares during the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 24.9% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 2,144 shares of the bank’s stock worth $109,000 after buying an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 5.9% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,838,023 shares of the bank’s stock worth $87,913,000 after buying an additional 102,441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of Heartland Financial USA by 61.1% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 12,890 shares of the bank’s stock worth $617,000 after buying an additional 4,890 shares during the last quarter. 71.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Heartland Financial USA Stock Performance

Shares of HTLF opened at $33.01 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.53 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.38. Heartland Financial USA, Inc. has a 12 month low of $26.10 and a 12 month high of $39.39.

Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The bank reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $144.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.60 million. Heartland Financial USA had a net margin of 8.57% and a return on equity of 11.56%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Heartland Financial USA, Inc. will post 4.45 EPS for the current year.

Heartland Financial USA Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. Heartland Financial USA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on HTLF shares. TheStreet cut shares of Heartland Financial USA from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Heartland Financial USA from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Raymond James raised shares of Heartland Financial USA from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $41.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Heartland Financial USA in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Heartland Financial USA currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.80.

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.