Stephens Upgrades Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) to Strong-Buy

Stephens upgraded shares of Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

HTBK has been the topic of several other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Heritage Commerce from $12.50 to $11.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised Heritage Commerce from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Heritage Commerce Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:HTBK opened at $10.08 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $9.79 and a 200-day moving average of $9.96. The firm has a market cap of $617.93 million, a P/E ratio of 15.27 and a beta of 0.96. Heritage Commerce has a twelve month low of $7.66 and a twelve month 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.

Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17. Heritage Commerce had a return on equity of 5.96% and a net margin of 16.12%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Heritage Commerce will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Commerce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.16%. Heritage Commerce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heritage Commerce

In other news, Director Jack W. Conner sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.52, for a total transaction of $42,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 108,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,141,546.24. This represents a 3.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Heritage Commerce

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HTBK. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in shares of Heritage Commerce during the 3rd quarter worth about $20,093,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Heritage Commerce during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,181,000. Millennium Management LLC bought a new stake in Heritage Commerce during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,881,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Heritage Commerce by 58.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 463,774 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,350,000 after purchasing an additional 170,989 shares during the period. Finally, ExodusPoint Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Heritage Commerce during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,272,000. 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.