Short Interest in Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK) Grows By 19.2%

Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 1,971,456 shares, a growth of 19.2% from the February 26th total of 1,653,535 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 590,080 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.3 days. Currently, 3.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $14.50 price objective on shares of Heritage Commerce in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Janney Montgomery Scott lowered Heritage Commerce from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $12.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Raymond James Financial cut shares of Heritage Commerce from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Heritage Commerce in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Heritage Commerce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.25.

Heritage Commerce Stock Performance

Shares of HTBK stock traded up $0.15 on Wednesday, reaching $12.63. The stock had a trading volume of 429,399 shares, compared to its average volume of 718,931. The stock has a market cap of $777.92 million, a P/E ratio of 16.19 and a beta of 0.79. Heritage Commerce has a 1 year low of $8.09 and a 1 year high of $13.82. 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 50 day simple moving average of $12.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.63.

Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.05. Heritage Commerce had a return on equity of 8.07% and a net margin of 17.77%.The company had revenue of $104.04 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $50.78 million. Equities research analysts expect that Heritage Commerce will post 0.8 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Commerce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 25th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 25th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Heritage Commerce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heritage Commerce

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 valued at $39,191,000 after buying an additional 390,978 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Heritage Commerce by 2.4% in 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 during the period. Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of Heritage Commerce by 52.1% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. HoldCo Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Heritage Commerce during the 2nd quarter worth $16,121,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Heritage Commerce by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,565,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,544,000 after acquiring an additional 87,229 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.55% of the company’s stock.

About Heritage Commerce

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.