Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

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

HTBK has been the subject of several other research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Heritage Commerce from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Heritage Commerce from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on Heritage Commerce from $9.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Heritage Commerce presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $10.75.

Heritage Commerce Stock Performance

NASDAQ:HTBK opened at $8.14 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 stock has a market cap of $498.58 million, a P/E ratio of 7.68 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.72. Heritage Commerce has a twelve month low of $6.69 and a twelve month high of $10.22.

Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $44.24 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $46.38 million. Heritage Commerce had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 9.78%. As a group, research analysts predict that Heritage Commerce will post 0.81 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Commerce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 8th were given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 7th. Heritage Commerce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Heritage Commerce news, Director Jack W. Conner sold 6,944 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.92, for a total transaction of $61,940.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 102,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $914,308.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HTBK. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Heritage Commerce by 185.5% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 3,155 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Heritage Commerce by 47.7% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 4,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,543 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Heritage Commerce during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Heritage Commerce during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $111,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its stake in shares of Heritage Commerce by 1,070.2% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 12,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 11,248 shares during the period. 75.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Heritage Commerce Company Profile

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.