Panagora Asset Management Inc. Boosts Stake in Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK)

Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK) by 54.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 123,432 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 43,635 shares during the quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Heritage Commerce were worth $1,028,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HTBK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Heritage Commerce by 24.4% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 831,342 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,352,000 after buying an additional 162,840 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of Heritage Commerce by 10.5% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 11,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,000 after buying an additional 1,121 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Heritage Commerce by 124.6% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 31,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 17,402 shares during the period. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can boosted its position in shares of Heritage Commerce by 35.7% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 6,253 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 1,646 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Heritage Commerce by 1.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,706,613 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,450,000 after buying an additional 47,252 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James upped their target price on Heritage Commerce from $10.00 to $10.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Stephens cut Heritage Commerce from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $10.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, August 11th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. TheStreet upgraded Heritage Commerce from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Heritage Commerce from $10.00 to $11.00 in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Heritage Commerce from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 25th.

Heritage Commerce Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:HTBK opened at $8.53 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.80. Heritage Commerce Corp has a one year low of $6.69 and a one year high of $14.87. The stock has a market cap of $521.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.99 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.02). Heritage Commerce had a net margin of 32.20% and a return on equity of 11.67%. The firm had revenue of $48.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $51.03 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Heritage Commerce Corp will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Commerce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 10th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.10%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 9th. Heritage Commerce’s payout ratio is currently 42.62%.

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.