Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Shares of Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK) gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $10.65, but opened at $10.21. Heritage Commerce shares last traded at $10.61, with a volume of 23,487 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on HTBK. Stephens raised shares of Heritage Commerce from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Heritage Commerce from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Heritage Commerce from $12.50 to $11.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th.

Heritage Commerce Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $657.17 million, a P/E ratio of 16.24 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $9.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.90.

Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17. Heritage Commerce had a net margin of 16.12% and a return on equity of 5.96%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Heritage Commerce Corp will post 0.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Commerce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.85%. Heritage Commerce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.79%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heritage Commerce

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in Heritage Commerce by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,965,643 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,421,000 after buying an additional 61,630 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Heritage Commerce by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 216,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,139,000 after purchasing an additional 14,466 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Heritage Commerce by 58.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 463,774 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,350,000 after purchasing an additional 170,989 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in Heritage Commerce by 55.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 103,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,024,000 after purchasing an additional 36,997 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in Heritage Commerce by 103.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 3,987 shares during 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.