Banc Funds Co. LLC Lowers Holdings in Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK)

Banc Funds Co. LLC reduced its position in shares of Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK) by 36.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 174,539 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 98,300 shares during the quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC owned about 0.28% of Heritage Commerce worth $1,637,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HTBK. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Heritage Commerce by 64.8% during the fourth 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 increased its holdings in shares of Heritage Commerce by 103.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 3,987 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Heritage Commerce in the 4th quarter worth $99,000. Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Heritage Commerce during the 4th quarter worth $123,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Heritage Commerce in the fourth quarter valued at about $129,000. 75.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on HTBK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased 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 report on Friday, January 24th. Stephens raised shares of Heritage Commerce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd.

Heritage Commerce Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Heritage Commerce stock opened at $8.61 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.73. Heritage Commerce Corp has a fifty-two week low of $7.66 and a fifty-two week high of $11.27. The company has a market cap of $530.47 million, a P/E ratio of 13.05 and a beta of 0.81.

Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) last issued 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 net margin of 16.12% and a return on equity of 5.96%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Heritage Commerce Corp will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Commerce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.04%. Heritage Commerce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.79%.

Insider Activity at Heritage Commerce

In other Heritage Commerce news, CEO Robertson Clay Jones, Jr. sold 5,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.73, for a total value of $50,060.85. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 254,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,473,628.71. This trade represents a 1.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jack W. Conner sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.52, for a total transaction of $42,080.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 108,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,141,546.24. The trade was a 3.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 10,747 shares of company stock valued at $107,728. 3.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Heritage Commerce 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.