Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $12.25.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Heritage Commerce in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Raymond James Financial lowered Heritage Commerce from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Heritage Commerce in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Zacks Research downgraded Heritage Commerce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott lowered Heritage Commerce from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $12.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Monday, December 22nd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in Heritage Commerce by 26.2% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 28,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $347,000 after acquiring an additional 5,997 shares during the period. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury acquired a new position in shares of Heritage Commerce in the 4th quarter valued at about $623,000. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Heritage Commerce by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 235,515 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,829,000 after purchasing an additional 22,780 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management acquired a new stake in Heritage Commerce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $136,000. Finally, VARCOV Co. purchased a new position in Heritage Commerce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $352,000. 75.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Heritage Commerce Stock Performance

NASDAQ HTBK opened at $13.30 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Heritage Commerce has a fifty-two week low of $8.09 and a fifty-two week high of $13.82. The business has a fifty day moving average of $12.76 and a 200-day moving average of $11.17. The stock has a market cap of $818.75 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.05 and a beta of 0.80.

Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.05. Heritage Commerce had a net margin of 17.77% and a return on equity of 8.10%. The company had revenue of $53.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $50.78 million. As a group, analysts predict that Heritage Commerce will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Commerce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 5th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 5th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. Heritage Commerce’s dividend payout ratio is 66.67%.

About Heritage Commerce

Heritage Commerce Corporation, headquartered in Farmington Hills, Michigan, is the bank holding company for Heritage Bank, N.A., a community-oriented financial institution. Traded on NASDAQ under the symbol HTBK, the company focuses on delivering tailored banking services to businesses, professionals and individuals throughout Southeastern Michigan.

Heritage Bank, N.A. offers a comprehensive portfolio of deposit and lending products designed to meet the needs of commercial and consumer clients.