Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Short Interest Up 20.6% in February

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 695,200 shares, an increase of 20.6% from the January 31st total of 576,400 shares. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 191,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heritage Financial

In related news, Director Frederick B. Rivera sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.43, for a total value of $101,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,752.92. This represents a 50.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Heritage Financial

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in Heritage Financial by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 113,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,463,000 after purchasing an additional 5,762 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Heritage Financial by 71.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,741,058 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,903,000 after purchasing an additional 725,257 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC acquired a new stake in Heritage Financial in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,194,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in Heritage Financial during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $338,000. 78.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th.

Heritage Financial Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of HFWA opened at $23.91 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $24.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $812.72 million, a P/E ratio of 19.28 and a beta of 0.53. Heritage Financial has a 12-month low of $16.55 and a 12-month high of $27.58.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.06. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 13.64%. Equities research analysts expect that Heritage Financial will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.02%. This is an increase from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.42%.

Heritage Financial Company Profile

Heritage Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Heritage Bank that provides various financial services to small and medium sized businesses and individuals in the United States. It accepts various deposit products, such as noninterest demand deposits, interest bearing demand deposits, money market accounts, savings accounts, personal checking accounts, and certificates of deposit.