Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) Cut to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on HTBK. Wall Street Zen downgraded Heritage Commerce from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Heritage Commerce in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Heritage Commerce in a research report on Friday, October 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.75.

Heritage Commerce Price Performance

Heritage Commerce stock opened at $9.83 on Monday. 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 capitalization of $604.05 million, a PE ratio of 15.60 and a beta of 0.85. Heritage Commerce has a one year low of $8.09 and a one year high of $11.27. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.61.

Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $47.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.17 million. Heritage Commerce had a return on equity of 6.61% and a net margin of 15.00%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Heritage Commerce will post 0.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Commerce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 7th were paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 7th. Heritage Commerce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.54%.

Insider Activity at Heritage Commerce

In related 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 acquired at an average cost of $9.25 per share, with a total value of $185,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $185,000. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heritage Commerce

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HTBK. HoldCo Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Heritage Commerce during the second quarter worth $16,121,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Heritage Commerce by 64.9% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,796,472 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,142,000 after purchasing an additional 1,493,857 shares during the period. Rhino Investment Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Heritage Commerce during the first quarter worth $5,222,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Heritage Commerce by 69.8% during the first quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,277,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,163,000 after purchasing an additional 525,060 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Heritage Commerce during the first quarter worth $4,861,000. 75.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.