StockNews.com Downgrades Heritage Insurance (NYSE:HRTG) to Buy

Heritage Insurance (NYSE:HRTG) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Wednesday.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on HRTG. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Heritage Insurance from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Heritage Insurance from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $9.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.67.

Heritage Insurance Price Performance

NYSE:HRTG opened at $16.26 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $10.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $498.14 million, a P/E ratio of 9.91 and a beta of 0.90. Heritage Insurance has a one year low of $4.28 and a one year high of $16.90.

Heritage Insurance (NYSE:HRTG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The insurance provider reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.23. Heritage Insurance had a net margin of 7.37% and a return on equity of 26.27%. The firm had revenue of $203.57 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $196.81 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Heritage Insurance will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ernie J. Garateix acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $8.59 per share, with a total value of $42,950.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,072,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,213,496.56. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Chairman Richard A. Widdicombe acquired 4,437 shares of Heritage Insurance stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $14.55 per share, for a total transaction of $64,558.35. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman now directly owns 696,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,134,031.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ernie J. Garateix bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $8.59 per share, for a total transaction of $42,950.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,072,584 shares in the company, valued at $9,213,496.56. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 14.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Heritage Insurance

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Heritage Insurance by 265.3% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 314,856 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,353,000 after purchasing an additional 228,655 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Heritage Insurance by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 104,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $678,000 after buying an additional 12,000 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Heritage Insurance in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in Heritage Insurance in the first quarter valued at about $155,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Heritage Insurance by 8.1% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 96,678 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,030,000 after acquiring an additional 7,203 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.03% of the company’s stock.

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.