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

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

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Heritage Commerce from $9.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Heritage Commerce from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Heritage Commerce from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $10.75.

Heritage Commerce Stock Performance

Shares of HTBK opened at $8.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. Heritage Commerce has a 1 year low of $6.69 and a 1 year high of $10.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $497.35 million, a P/E ratio of 7.66 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s fifty day moving average is $8.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.72.

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

Heritage Commerce Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 22nd. Shareholders 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 yield of 6.40%. Heritage Commerce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heritage Commerce

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in Heritage Commerce in the 1st quarter valued at about $111,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 3,155 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Heritage Commerce during the 1st quarter worth about $122,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Heritage Commerce by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,185,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,597,000 after acquiring an additional 66,664 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Heritage Commerce by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 508,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,047,000 after acquiring an additional 29,291 shares during the period. 75.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.