Heritage Insurance (NYSE:HRTG) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Heritage Insurance from “buy” to “hold,” even though other analysts remain more positive and the stock still carries a consensus “buy” rating with a $39 target price.
• The shares fell sharply, with Heritage Insurance trading down 20.4% to $22.31; the stock also recently missed earnings estimates, reporting $1.19 EPS versus $1.53 expected.
• Insider selling and institutional buying were both notable, as executives sold shares over the past 90 days while large investors such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Millennium Management increased their stakes.

Heritage Insurance (NYSE:HRTG - Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Heritage Insurance from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Citigroup restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Heritage Insurance in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Zacks Research upgraded Heritage Insurance from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Heritage Insurance in a research note on Friday, March 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Heritage Insurance presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $39.00.

Heritage Insurance Trading Down 20.4%

NYSE:HRTG opened at $22.31 on Friday. Heritage Insurance has a fifty-two week low of $16.83 and a fifty-two week high of $31.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $676.96 million, a PE ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.03. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $27.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.06.

Heritage Insurance (NYSE:HRTG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The insurance provider reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($0.34). The firm had revenue of $212.66 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $215.39 million. Heritage Insurance had a net margin of 23.76% and a return on equity of 45.62%. Sell-side analysts expect that Heritage Insurance will post 4.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Heritage Insurance news, CEO Ernie J. Garateix sold 8,334 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.56, for a total transaction of $229,685.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,060,955 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,239,919.80. The trade was a 0.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Timothy Moura sold 29,133 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total value of $775,811.79. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 210,535 shares in the company, valued at $5,606,547.05. This trade represents a 12.16% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 130,918 shares of company stock valued at $3,446,606 in the last 90 days. 15.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HRTG. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of Heritage Insurance by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 13,621 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $196,000 after purchasing an additional 546 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Heritage Insurance by 39.8% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 322,957 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $4,657,000 after purchasing an additional 91,982 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Heritage Insurance by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 124,859 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,800,000 after purchasing an additional 9,728 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Heritage Insurance during the 1st quarter worth approximately $127,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Heritage Insurance by 1,078.7% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 140,879 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $3,514,000 after purchasing an additional 128,927 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.03% of the company's stock.

Heritage Insurance Company Profile

Heritage Insurance Holdings, Inc NYSE: HRTG is a property and casualty insurance holding company that offers homeowners insurance and related coverage products in the United States. Through its primary subsidiary, Heritage Property & Casualty Insurance Company, the firm underwrites standard and non-standard personal lines insurance, including homeowners, dwelling fire, flood, and condominium policies. Heritage leverages a network of independent insurance agents to distribute its products across select regional markets, with an emphasis on serving property owners in areas prone to severe weather events.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Jupiter, Florida, Heritage Insurance has grown to become one of the leading providers of residential property insurance in the state.

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