StockNews.com Lowers Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) to Sell

Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on HTBK. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Heritage Commerce from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Heritage Commerce from $9.50 to $11.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Heritage Commerce from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.75.

Heritage Commerce Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of Heritage Commerce stock traded up $0.22 on Friday, hitting $8.12. 376,484 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 393,354. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $8.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Heritage Commerce has a 12-month low of $6.69 and a 12-month high of $10.22. The company has a market cap of $497.38 million, a PE ratio of 7.66 and a beta of 0.90.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.02). Heritage Commerce had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 9.78%. The company had revenue of $44.24 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $46.38 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Heritage Commerce will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Heritage Commerce

In other Heritage Commerce news, Director Jack W. Conner sold 6,944 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 102,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $914,308.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 4.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HTBK. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,847,750 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its position in Heritage Commerce by 101.4% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,893,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,718,000 after acquiring an additional 953,372 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Heritage Commerce by 83.3% during the 2nd quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 1,136,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,408,000 after acquiring an additional 516,348 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of Heritage Commerce during the first quarter valued at about $2,832,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 243,600 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.