Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on HTBK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target 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. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Heritage Commerce from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, January 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $10.75.

Heritage Commerce Stock Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ HTBK opened at $8.22 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $8.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $502.81 million, a PE ratio of 7.75 and a beta of 0.90. Heritage Commerce has a fifty-two week low of $6.69 and a fifty-two week high of $10.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $44.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $46.38 million. Heritage Commerce had a return on equity of 9.78% and a net margin of 26.49%. Equities analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Thursday, February 8th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 7th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.33%. Heritage Commerce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heritage Commerce

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Heritage Commerce by 32.5% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,529,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,750 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its stake in Heritage Commerce by 101.4% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,893,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,718,000 after buying an additional 953,372 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Heritage Commerce by 83.3% in the second quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 1,136,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,408,000 after buying an additional 516,348 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in Heritage Commerce during the first quarter valued at $2,832,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in Heritage Commerce by 132.7% during the first quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 427,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,559,000 after acquiring an additional 243,600 shares during the last quarter. 75.55% of the stock is currently owned by 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.