Short Interest in Heritage Insurance Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HRTG) Increases By 8.5%

Heritage Insurance Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HRTG) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 845,500 shares, an increase of 8.5% from the March 31st total of 779,200 shares. Currently, 3.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 401,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Insider Activity at Heritage Insurance

In other Heritage Insurance news, Director Paul L. Whiting bought 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.14 per share, for a total transaction of $162,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $162,800. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 3,800 shares of company stock worth $28,943 in the last 90 days. 11.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HRTG. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC purchased a new position in shares of Heritage Insurance in the third quarter valued at $2,171,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Heritage Insurance by 110.3% during the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 376,832 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,444,000 after acquiring an additional 197,656 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Heritage Insurance during the third quarter worth about $172,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its position in Heritage Insurance by 232.0% during the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 34,097 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $222,000 after acquiring an additional 23,826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Heritage Insurance in the third quarter valued at about $109,000. 59.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HRTG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Heritage Insurance from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Heritage Insurance in a report on Monday, April 15th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $9.00 price target on shares of Heritage Insurance in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised Heritage Insurance from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.00.

Heritage Insurance Price Performance

NYSE:HRTG traded down $0.08 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $10.19. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 209,846 shares, compared to its average volume of 391,622. Heritage Insurance has a 52-week low of $3.20 and a 52-week high of $11.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The business’s 50-day moving average is $9.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $7.55. The company has a market capitalization of $312.22 million, a PE ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.89.

Heritage Insurance (NYSE:HRTG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The insurance provider reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.70. Heritage Insurance had a net margin of 6.16% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The business had revenue of $186.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $185.11 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Heritage Insurance will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Insurance Company Profile

Heritage Insurance Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides personal and commercial residential insurance products. The company offers personal residential insurance in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia; commercial residential insurance for properties in Florida, New Jersey, and New York; and licensed in the state of Pennsylvania, as well as personal residential and wind-only property insurance.