Heartland Financial (HTLF) Misses Q4 EPS by 8c

Heartland Financial (NASDAQ: HTLF) reported Q4 EPS of $0.93, $0.08 worse than the analyst estimate of $1.01. Revenue for the quarter came in at $117 million versus the consensus estimate of $139.93 million.

• Quarterly net income available to common stockholders of $32.1 million, an increase of $18.5 million or 135% from the fourth quarter of 2017
• Annual net income available to common stockholders of $117.0 million, an increase of $41.7 million or 55% from 2017
• Diluted earnings per common share of $0.93 for the quarter, an increase of $0.48 per share or 107% from the fourth quarter of 2017
• Diluted earnings per common share of $3.52 for the year, an increase of $0.87 per share or 33% from 2017
• Return on average common equity of 9.88% for the quarter and 9.93% for the year
• Return on average tangible common equity (non-GAAP)(1) of 15.00% for the quarter and 14.79% for the year
• Efficiency ratio, fully tax-equivalent (non-GAAP)(2) of 59.37% for the quarter and 63.54% for the year
• Declared and paid a special dividend of $0.05 per common share in December 2018
• Announced agreement to acquire Blue Valley Ban Corp. on January 16, 2019

Bruce K. Lee, Heartland's president and chief executive officer, stated, "The decisions to exit the consumer finance business and alter our approach to providing residential mortgage loans were in response to changes in the competitive landscape in these markets. These actions, in addition to our branch optimization strategy, will allow us to focus our resources in areas with higher growth and earnings potential."

Lee said, “During this recent period of rising interest rates, we were pleased to see our net interest margin on a fully tax-equivalent basis remain strong at 4.34% for the quarter and 4.32% for the year."

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Heartland Financial (HTLF) click here.

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