Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) Downgraded to “Sell” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Friday.

HTBK has been the topic of a number of other reports. Raymond James set a $10.00 target price on shares of Heritage Commerce in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $11.00 target price on shares of Heritage Commerce in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Heritage Commerce from $11.50 to $11.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th.

Heritage Commerce Trading Up 2.6%

NASDAQ HTBK opened at $9.48 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.60. Heritage Commerce has a 52 week low of $7.74 and a 52 week high of $11.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market cap of $583.93 million, a P/E ratio of 14.36 and a beta of 0.79.

Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.01. Heritage Commerce had a net margin of 16.12% and a return on equity of 5.96%. The business had revenue of $46.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.89 million. Equities research analysts predict that Heritage Commerce will post 0.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Commerce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 8th were issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 8th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.49%. Heritage Commerce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.47%.

Insider Activity at Heritage Commerce

In other Heritage Commerce news, CEO Robertson Clay Jones, Jr. sold 5,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.73, for a total transaction of $50,060.85. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 254,227 shares in the company, valued at $2,473,628.71. The trade was a 1.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Heritage Commerce

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in Heritage Commerce during the first quarter valued at $547,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Heritage Commerce during the first quarter valued at $316,000. Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in Heritage Commerce by 158.2% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 144,919 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,380,000 after purchasing an additional 88,801 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Heritage Commerce by 8.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 171,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,636,000 after purchasing an additional 13,519 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in Heritage Commerce by 4.4% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 35,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 1,482 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.55% of the company’s stock.

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.