Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $12.25.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on HTBK shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Heritage Commerce from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 20th. Janney Montgomery Scott cut shares of Heritage Commerce from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $12.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Heritage Commerce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $14.50 target price on shares of Heritage Commerce in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Heritage Commerce in a research note on Monday, January 5th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heritage Commerce

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. HoldCo Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Heritage Commerce in the 2nd quarter worth $16,121,000. Voya Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Heritage Commerce by 231.1% in the 3rd quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 64,976 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $645,000 after buying an additional 45,350 shares in the last quarter. Rhino Investment Partners Inc grew its stake in shares of Heritage Commerce by 29.9% in the 3rd quarter. Rhino Investment Partners Inc now owns 795,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,896,000 after buying an additional 183,005 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Heritage Commerce in the 4th quarter worth $5,010,000. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Heritage Commerce by 92.3% in the 3rd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 90,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $894,000 after buying an additional 43,212 shares in the last quarter. 75.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Heritage Commerce Stock Performance

HTBK opened at $12.89 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $793.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.53 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a fifty day moving average of $12.74 and a 200 day moving average of $11.72. Heritage Commerce has a fifty-two week low of $8.09 and a fifty-two week high of $13.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $104.04 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $50.78 million. Heritage Commerce had a net margin of 17.77% and a return on equity of 8.07%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Heritage Commerce will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Commerce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 25th. Heritage Commerce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.67%.

Heritage Commerce Company Profile

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.