Piper Sandler Lowers Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) Price Target to $10.00

Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) had its price objective trimmed by Piper Sandler from $11.00 to $10.00 in a research note released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Heritage Commerce from $9.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Heritage Commerce from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Heritage Commerce from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $10.50.

Heritage Commerce Price Performance

NASDAQ HTBK opened at $8.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $8.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $8.71. Heritage Commerce has a 1 year low of $6.69 and a 1 year high of $10.22. The company has a market cap of $490 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.70 and a beta of 0.90.

Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.02). Heritage Commerce had a return on equity of 8.40% and a net margin of 22.84%. The company had revenue of $44.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $46.38 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Heritage Commerce will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Commerce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 9th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 8th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.50%. Heritage Commerce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.52%.

Insider Transactions at Heritage Commerce

In other news, Director Jack W. Conner sold 6,944 shares of Heritage Commerce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.92, for a total transaction of $61,940.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 102,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $914,308.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heritage Commerce

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Heritage Commerce by 185.5% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 3,155 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its stake in Heritage Commerce by 47.7% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 4,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,543 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Heritage Commerce during the 4th quarter worth $49,000. Norden Group LLC acquired a new stake in Heritage Commerce during the 1st quarter worth $111,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its stake in Heritage Commerce by 1,070.2% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 12,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $122,000 after acquiring an additional 11,248 shares in the last quarter. 75.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.