Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $10.75.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Heritage Commerce in a report on Friday, October 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Heritage Commerce from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Heritage Commerce in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Heritage Commerce from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th.

Heritage Commerce Trading Up 0.8%

HTBK opened at $9.93 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $610.20 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.76 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.63. Heritage Commerce has a fifty-two week low of $8.09 and a fifty-two week high of $11.27.

Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $47.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $47.17 million. Heritage Commerce had a net margin of 15.00% and a return on equity of 6.61%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Heritage Commerce will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Commerce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 7th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 7th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.2%. Heritage Commerce’s payout ratio is currently 82.54%.

Insider Transactions at Heritage Commerce

In other news, COO Thomas A. Sa acquired 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $9.25 per share, for a total transaction of $185,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $185,000. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HTBK. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Heritage Commerce by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 24,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $232,000 after buying an additional 8,474 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Heritage Commerce by 1.9% in the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 148,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,412,000 after buying an additional 2,726 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in shares of Heritage Commerce by 12.3% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 34,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $330,000 after buying an additional 3,800 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Heritage Commerce by 266.6% in the first quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 38,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $367,000 after buying an additional 28,069 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Heritage Commerce in the first quarter valued at approximately $301,000. 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.