Heritage Commerce Corp $HTBK Shares Sold by Trexquant Investment LP

Key Points

• Trexquant Investment LP significantly reduced its stake in Heritage Commerce Corp by 58.2%, now holding approximately 39,354 shares valued at $375,000.
• Heritage Commerce announced a quarterly dividend of $0.13 per share, yielding 5.1%, with a dividend payout ratio of 82.54%.
• Wall Street Zen downgraded Heritage Commerce from a "hold" to a "sell" rating, although the stock maintains an average rating of "Buy" with a target price of $10.67 based on analyst assessments.

Trexquant Investment LP lessened its stake in Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK - Free Report) by 58.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,354 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 54,903 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP owned 0.06% of Heritage Commerce worth $375,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Heritage Commerce by 143.5% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,851 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,680 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of Heritage Commerce by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,789 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 2,316 shares in the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P purchased a new position in shares of Heritage Commerce in the 1st quarter valued at about $103,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Heritage Commerce in the 4th quarter valued at about $104,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP increased its holdings in shares of Heritage Commerce by 29.6% in the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 13,120 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 2,997 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.55% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Thomas A. Sa purchased 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $9.25 per share, with a total value of $185,000.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer directly owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $185,000. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Heritage Commerce from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $10.67.

Heritage Commerce Price Performance

NASDAQ:HTBK traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $10.16. 276,429 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 389,538. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $10.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.58. Heritage Commerce Corp has a 1 year low of $8.09 and a 1 year high of $11.27. The company has a market cap of $624.30 million, a PE ratio of 16.13 and a beta of 0.87.

Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.02. Heritage Commerce had a net margin of 15.00% and a return on equity of 6.61%. The firm had revenue of $47.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.17 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Heritage Commerce Corp will post 0.8 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Commerce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 7th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 7th. Heritage Commerce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.54%.

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.