Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) Cut to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Key Points

• Heritage Commerce has been dropped to a "strong sell" rating by Zacks Research, reflecting a negative outlook among analysts.
• Despite the downgrade, Piper Sandler has initiated coverage with an "overweight" rating and a price target of $11.00, highlighting mixed analyst opinions on the stock.
• Insider activity includes COO Thomas A. Sa purchasing 20,000 shares at $9.25, suggesting confidence in the company's future performance.

Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Heritage Commerce in a research note on Friday. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $11.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Heritage Commerce in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Heritage Commerce from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Heritage Commerce currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $10.75.

Heritage Commerce Trading Up 4.0%

Shares of Heritage Commerce stock opened at $10.02 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $9.99 and a 200-day moving average of $9.61. The stock has a market cap of $615.70 million, a PE ratio of 15.91 and a beta of 0.85. Heritage Commerce has a 52-week low of $8.09 and a 52-week high of $11.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77.

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

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heritage Commerce

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HTBK. HoldCo Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in Heritage Commerce in the 2nd quarter worth about $16,121,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Heritage Commerce by 64.9% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,796,472 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $36,142,000 after acquiring an additional 1,493,857 shares during the last quarter. Rhino Investment Partners Inc bought a new position in Heritage Commerce in the 1st quarter worth about $5,222,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Heritage Commerce by 69.8% in the 1st quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 1,277,630 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $12,163,000 after purchasing an additional 525,060 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Heritage Commerce in the 1st quarter worth about $4,861,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.55% of the company's stock.

About Heritage Commerce

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.

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