Insider Selling: Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK) CEO Sells 5,145 Shares of Stock

Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK) CEO Robertson Clay Jones, Jr. sold 5,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.73, for a total transaction of $50,060.85. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 254,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,473,628.71. This represents a 1.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Heritage Commerce Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of HTBK stock opened at $9.45 on Wednesday. Heritage Commerce Corp has a 1-year low of $7.66 and a 1-year high of $11.27. The firm has a market cap of $579.31 million, a PE ratio of 14.32 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a 50-day moving average of $9.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.17. Heritage Commerce had a return on equity of 5.96% and a net margin of 16.12%. On average, analysts predict that Heritage Commerce Corp will post 0.8 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Commerce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.50%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. Heritage Commerce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on HTBK shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Heritage Commerce from $12.50 to $11.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Stephens upgraded Heritage Commerce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Heritage Commerce from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th.

Institutional Trading of Heritage Commerce

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HTBK. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Heritage Commerce by 562.4% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 2,677 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in Heritage Commerce by 64.8% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,473 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 1,365 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Heritage Commerce by 103.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 3,987 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Heritage Commerce during the fourth quarter worth $97,000. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Heritage Commerce in the fourth quarter valued at $99,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.55% of the company’s stock.

Heritage Commerce Company Profile

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.