Proficio Capital Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 18,441 Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Heritage Commerce Corp (NASDAQ:HTBK) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 18,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $173,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Heritage Commerce by 3.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,965,643 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,421,000 after purchasing an additional 61,630 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Heritage Commerce by 7.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 216,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,139,000 after purchasing an additional 14,466 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Heritage Commerce by 58.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 463,774 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,350,000 after purchasing an additional 170,989 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Heritage Commerce by 55.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 103,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,024,000 after buying an additional 36,997 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted 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 buying an additional 3,987 shares in the last quarter. 75.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Heritage Commerce Stock Up 1.0 %

HTBK stock opened at $9.54 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $584.83 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.45 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $9.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.96. 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 Corp has a 12 month low of $7.66 and a 12 month high of $11.27.

Heritage Commerce (NASDAQ:HTBK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17. Heritage Commerce had a net margin of 16.12% and a return on equity of 5.96%. Sell-side analysts expect that Heritage Commerce Corp will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Commerce Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.45%. Heritage Commerce’s payout ratio is 78.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Heritage Commerce

In related news, Director Jack W. Conner sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.52, for a total transaction of $42,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 108,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,141,546.24. This represents a 3.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Robertson Clay Jones, Jr. sold 5,145 shares of the firm’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 owns 254,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,473,628.71. The trade was a 1.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 10,747 shares of company stock worth $107,728. 3.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Heritage Commerce

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.