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

Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $12.25.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Heritage Commerce from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Heritage Commerce from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen cut Heritage Commerce from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, December 20th. Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded 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 report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $14.50 price target on shares of Heritage Commerce in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th.

Heritage Commerce Stock Performance

NASDAQ:HTBK opened at $12.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $747.09 million, a PE ratio of 15.55 and a beta of 0.79. Heritage Commerce has a fifty-two week low of $8.09 and a fifty-two week high of $13.82. The company has a fifty day moving average of $12.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.45.

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

Heritage Commerce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 25th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 25th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. Heritage Commerce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.67%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heritage Commerce

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. HoldCo Asset Management LP acquired a new position in Heritage Commerce during the second quarter worth about $16,121,000. Creative Planning grew its stake in Heritage Commerce by 38.5% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 173,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,718,000 after acquiring an additional 48,130 shares in the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 valued at $645,000 after acquiring an additional 45,350 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Heritage Commerce by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,565,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,544,000 after acquiring an additional 87,229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new position in Heritage Commerce in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $389,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.55% of the company’s stock.

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.