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

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on HTBK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Heritage Commerce from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 26th. Raymond James raised their price target on Heritage Commerce from $9.50 to $11.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Heritage Commerce from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $10.75.

Heritage Commerce Stock Performance

NASDAQ:HTBK opened at $8.14 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Heritage Commerce has a 12-month low of $6.69 and a 12-month high of $10.22. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $8.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $498.58 million, a P/E ratio of 7.68 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Heritage Commerce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, February 8th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.39%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 7th. Heritage Commerce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Heritage Commerce news, Director Jack W. Conner sold 6,944 shares of Heritage Commerce stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $914,308.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HTBK. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Heritage Commerce by 107.6% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 32,558 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $276,000 after acquiring an additional 16,878 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Heritage Commerce by 17.2% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 78,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $666,000 after acquiring an additional 11,550 shares during the period. Rosenthal Henry Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Heritage Commerce during the 3rd quarter worth $1,863,000. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in Heritage Commerce during the 3rd quarter worth $248,000. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Heritage Commerce by 76.0% during the 3rd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 224,353 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,900,000 after buying an additional 96,854 shares during the last quarter. 75.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.