Heartland Financial USA (HTLF) Competitors

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) and Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, community ranking, dividends, media sentiment, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and analyst recommendations.

Is FHN or HTLF more profitable?

First Horizon has a net margin of 15.43% compared to Heartland Financial USA's net margin of 8.79%. Heartland Financial USA's return on equity of 10.81% beat First Horizon's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Horizon	15.43%	9.51%	1.01%
Heartland Financial USA	8.79%	10.81%	1.09%

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in FHN or HTLF?

First Horizon received 101 more outperform votes than Heartland Financial USA when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 56.76% of users gave Heartland Financial USA an outperform vote while only 54.47% of users gave First Horizon an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First Horizon	Outperform Votes 500 54.47%	Underperform Votes 418 45.53%
Heartland Financial USA	Outperform Votes 399 56.76%	Underperform Votes 304 43.24%

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, FHN or HTLF?

First Horizon has higher revenue and earnings than Heartland Financial USA. First Horizon is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Heartland Financial USA, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Horizon	$5.03B	2.18	$897M	$1.38	15.00
Heartland Financial USA	$932.87M	3.09	$79.92M	$1.79	37.61

Is FHN or HTLF a better dividend stock?

First Horizon pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Heartland Financial USA pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. First Horizon pays out 43.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Heartland Financial USA pays out 67.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. First Horizon is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media prefer FHN or HTLF?

In the previous week, First Horizon had 10 more articles in the media than Heartland Financial USA. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for First Horizon and 8 mentions for Heartland Financial USA. First Horizon's average media sentiment score of 1.16 beat Heartland Financial USA's score of 1.13 indicating that First Horizon is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Horizon	12 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Heartland Financial USA	5 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend FHN or HTLF?

First Horizon currently has a consensus target price of $19.08, suggesting a potential downside of 7.84%. Heartland Financial USA has a consensus target price of $45.60, suggesting a potential downside of 32.26%. Given First Horizon's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe First Horizon is more favorable than Heartland Financial USA.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Horizon	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.54
Heartland Financial USA	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Do institutionals & insiders believe in FHN or HTLF?

80.3% of First Horizon shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.6% of Heartland Financial USA shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of First Horizon shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Heartland Financial USA shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, FHN or HTLF?

First Horizon has a beta of 0.91, meaning that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Heartland Financial USA has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

First Horizon beats Heartland Financial USA on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.