Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK) Short Interest Down 17.7% in April

Key Points

• Short interest fell 17.7% in April to 1,758,390 shares (about 2.9% of the stock), with a days-to-cover ratio of 2.8.
• Analyst consensus is an average rating of "Hold" with an average target price of $13.13 (two Buys and five Holds), following mixed recent moves including downgrades by Raymond James and Zacks and an upgrade from Weiss Ratings.
• Heritage Commerce pays a quarterly dividend of $0.13 (annualized $0.52), yielding about 3.9% with a payout ratio near 66.7%.

Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 1,758,390 shares, a decline of 17.7% from the March 31st total of 2,137,172 shares. Approximately 2.9% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 622,480 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HTBK. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Heritage Commerce from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Heritage Commerce in a research report on Monday, January 5th. DA Davidson reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $14.50 price objective on shares of Heritage Commerce in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Heritage Commerce from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Heritage Commerce from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $13.13.

Institutional Trading of Heritage Commerce

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Heritage Commerce by 11.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,946,682 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $39,191,000 after acquiring an additional 390,978 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Heritage Commerce by 2.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,883,705 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $18,705,000 after acquiring an additional 44,948 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in Heritage Commerce by 52.1% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,676,777 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $16,636,000 after acquiring an additional 574,070 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Capital Management L.P. bought a new stake in Heritage Commerce during the fourth quarter worth $18,616,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Heritage Commerce by 44.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,538,801 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $18,481,000 after acquiring an additional 473,132 shares in the last quarter. 75.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Heritage Commerce Stock Performance

NASDAQ HTBK remained flat at $13.45 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a fifty day moving average of $12.78 and a 200-day moving average of $12.10. Heritage Commerce has a fifty-two week low of $8.73 and a fifty-two week high of $13.83. The company has a market cap of $828.43 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.24 and a beta of 0.69.

Heritage Commerce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 25th. Heritage Commerce's dividend payout ratio is 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.

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