Financial Review: Heartland BancCorp. (OTCMKTS:HLAN) and Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC)

Heartland BancCorp. (OTCMKTS:HLAN) and Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Dividends

Heartland BancCorp. pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Wintrust Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Heartland BancCorp. pays out 15.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Wintrust Financial pays out 19.8% 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. Wintrust Financial has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Wintrust Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Heartland BancCorp. and Wintrust Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Heartland BancCorp.	0	1	0	0	2.00
Wintrust Financial	0	2	10	1	2.92

Heartland BancCorp. currently has a consensus price target of $145.00, suggesting a potential downside of 9.38%. Wintrust Financial has a consensus price target of $138.00, suggesting a potential upside of 7.59%. Given Wintrust Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Wintrust Financial is more favorable than Heartland BancCorp..

Insider & Institutional Ownership

7.5% of Heartland BancCorp. shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.5% of Wintrust Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 22.7% of Heartland BancCorp. shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Wintrust Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Heartland BancCorp. and Wintrust Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Heartland BancCorp.	17.00%	N/A	N/A
Wintrust Financial	17.32%	12.00%	1.10%

Volatility & Risk

Heartland BancCorp. has a beta of 0.01, indicating that its stock price is 99% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wintrust Financial has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Heartland BancCorp. and Wintrust Financial”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Heartland BancCorp.	$119.21 million	2.74	$20.26 million	$9.76	16.39
Wintrust Financial	$3.97 billion	2.16	$695.04 million	$10.11	12.69

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

Summary

Wintrust Financial beats Heartland BancCorp. on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Heartland BancCorp.

Heartland BancCorp operates as the bank holding company for Heartland Bank that provides various banking and financial services to individual and corporate customers. The company offers personal and business checking and savings accounts. It also provides various lending solutions comprising agricultural loans, commercial and business lending, home and personal loans, and title services. In addition, the company offers online banking, treasury management, credit and debit card, and mobile wallet services. Further, it provides education planning, insurance, wealth management, and retirement planning services. Heartland BancCorp was founded in 1911 and is based in Whitehall, Ohio.

About Wintrust Financial

Wintrust Financial Corporation operates as a financial holding company. It operates in three segments: Community Banking, Specialty Finance, and Wealth Management. The Community Banking segment offers non-interest bearing deposits, non-brokered interest-bearing transaction accounts, and savings and domestic time deposits; home equity, consumer, and real estate loans; safe deposit facilities; and automatic teller machine (ATM), online and mobile banking, and other services. It also engages in the retail origination and purchase of residential mortgages; and provision of lending, deposits, and treasury management services to condominium, homeowner, and community associations, as well as asset-based lending for middle-market companies. In addition, this segment offers loan and deposit services to mortgage brokerage companies; lending to restaurant franchisees; direct leasing; small business administration loans; commercial mortgages and construction loans; and financial solutions. It provides personal and commercial banking services primarily to individuals, small to mid-sized businesses, local governmental units, and institutional clients. The Specialty Finance segment offers commercial and life insurance premiums financing for businesses and individuals; accounts receivable financing, value-added, and out-sourced administrative services; other specialty finance services; equipment financing through structured loan and lease products; and property and casualty premium financing; as well as data processing of payrolls, billing, and cash management services to temporary staffing industry. The Wealth Management segment provides wealth management services, such as trust and investment, asset management, tax-deferred exchange, securities brokerage, and retirement plan services. Wintrust Financial Corporation was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois.