Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK) Short Interest Update

Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 520,200 shares, an increase of 12.8% from the October 31st total of 461,100 shares. Currently, 0.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 357,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.5 days.

Institutional Trading of Heritage Commerce

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Heritage Commerce by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 46,089 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $449,000 after acquiring an additional 1,302 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Heritage Commerce by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 216,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,139,000 after acquiring an additional 14,466 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in Heritage Commerce by 55.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 103,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,024,000 after acquiring an additional 36,997 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in Heritage Commerce in the 3rd quarter valued at about $20,093,000. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in Heritage Commerce by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,965,643 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,421,000 after acquiring an additional 61,630 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.55% of the company’s stock.

Heritage Commerce Price Performance

Shares of HTBK traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $10.59. 248,333 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 388,242. Heritage Commerce has a 1-year low of $7.66 and a 1-year high of $11.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.73. The company has a 50 day moving average of $10.07 and a 200-day moving average of $9.48. The stock has a market cap of $649.20 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.92 and a beta of 0.93.

Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.17. Heritage Commerce had a net margin of 17.61% and a return on equity of 6.37%. The firm had revenue of $63.68 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.14 million. Analysts expect that Heritage Commerce will post 0.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Commerce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.91%. Heritage Commerce’s payout ratio is 73.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Heritage Commerce from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th.

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.