Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Sell

StockNews.com cut shares of Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Friday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on HTBK. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Heritage Commerce from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Heritage Commerce from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on Heritage Commerce from $9.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, January 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Heritage Commerce presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $10.75.

Heritage Commerce Stock Performance

HTBK stock opened at $8.12 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $8.72. Heritage Commerce has a fifty-two week low of $6.69 and a fifty-two week high of $10.22. The company has a market capitalization of $497.35 million, a P/E ratio of 7.66 and a beta of 0.90.

Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.02). Heritage Commerce had a return on equity of 9.78% and a net margin of 26.49%. The business had revenue of $44.24 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $46.38 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Heritage Commerce will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Commerce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 8th were issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 7th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.40%. Heritage Commerce’s dividend payout ratio is 49.06%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Jack W. Conner sold 6,944 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.92, for a total value of $61,940.48. Following the transaction, the director now owns 102,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $914,308.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 4.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heritage Commerce

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Heritage Commerce by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 19,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $213,000 after purchasing an additional 859 shares during the period. AJ Wealth Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Heritage Commerce by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. AJ Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 93,398 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,051,000 after buying an additional 1,006 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Heritage Commerce by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 288,799 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,755,000 after buying an additional 1,034 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Heritage Commerce by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 154,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,743,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Heritage Commerce by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 11,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $133,000 after buying an additional 1,121 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.55% of the company’s stock.

About Heritage Commerce

Heritage Commerce Corp operates as the bank holding company for Heritage Bank of Commerce that provides various commercial and personal banking services to residents and the business/professional community in California. Its deposit products for business banking and retail markets include interest and non-interest-bearing demand, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit and time deposits.