Heritage Insurance (NYSE:HRTG) Downgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

Heritage Insurance (NYSE:HRTG) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Wednesday.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on HRTG. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Heritage Insurance from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Heritage Insurance from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $9.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.67.

Heritage Insurance Stock Performance

Shares of HRTG traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $16.65. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 432,996 shares, compared to its average volume of 434,211. The company has a market cap of $510.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.15 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.11. Heritage Insurance has a 52-week low of $4.28 and a 52-week high of $16.88.

Heritage Insurance (NYSE:HRTG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The insurance provider reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $203.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $196.81 million. Heritage Insurance had a net margin of 7.37% and a return on equity of 26.27%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Heritage Insurance will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ernie J. Garateix bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $8.59 per share, with a total value of $42,950.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,072,584 shares in the company, valued at $9,213,496.56. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Ernie J. Garateix acquired 5,000 shares of Heritage Insurance stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $8.59 per share, with a total value of $42,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,072,584 shares in the company, valued at $9,213,496.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard A. Widdicombe acquired 4,437 shares of Heritage Insurance stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $14.55 per share, for a total transaction of $64,558.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 696,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,134,031.35. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 14.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Heritage Insurance

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HRTG. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Heritage Insurance by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 104,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $678,000 after buying an additional 12,000 shares during the period. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its stake in Heritage Insurance by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 372,076 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,426,000 after purchasing an additional 37,581 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Heritage Insurance by 265.3% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 314,856 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,353,000 after purchasing an additional 228,655 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Heritage Insurance by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 96,678 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 7,203 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in Heritage Insurance in the 1st quarter worth about $155,000. 59.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Heritage Insurance

Heritage Insurance Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides personal and commercial residential insurance products. The company offers personal residential insurance in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia; commercial residential insurance for properties in Florida, New Jersey, and New York; and licensed in the state of Pennsylvania, as well as personal residential and wind-only property insurance.