Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. Increases Stock Position in Heritage Financial Corporation $HFWA

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 163.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 607,105 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 376,368 shares during the quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. owned 1.79% of Heritage Financial worth $14,358,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its stake in Heritage Financial by 71.4% during the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 120,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,859,000 after buying an additional 50,353 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 9.2% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,626,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,531,000 after purchasing an additional 220,273 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,412,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,051,000 after purchasing an additional 45,422 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,107,165 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $73,484,000 after purchasing an additional 27,143 shares during the period. Finally, Algebris UK Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Algebris UK Ltd. now owns 520,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,320,000 after purchasing an additional 74,926 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on HFWA shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Heritage Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Heritage Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Donald Hinson sold 3,842 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.37, for a total value of $108,997.54. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 41,241 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,170,007.17. This trade represents a 8.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Heritage Financial Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:HFWA opened at $29.04 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $27.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.14. The stock has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.24 and a beta of 0.49. Heritage Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $21.32 and a fifty-two week high of $29.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $77.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.31 million. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 20.50% and a return on equity of 8.71%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Heritage Financial Corporation will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 6th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.06%.

Heritage Financial Profile

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) is a bank holding company headquartered in Spokane, Washington. Through its primary subsidiary, Heritage Bank, the company provides a comprehensive range of banking and financial services to both individual and commercial clients. Heritage Bank’s offerings encompass deposit products, lending solutions, treasury and cash management services, mortgage banking, and wealth management, positioning the organization as a full-service community bank.

The company’s lending portfolio includes commercial real estate loans, agricultural loans, small business administration (SBA) loans, construction and development financing, and a variety of consumer mortgage products.