Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $29.3333.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Heritage Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. DA Davidson set a $29.00 target price on shares of Heritage Financial in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Zacks Research cut Heritage Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Wall Street Zen raised Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Heritage Financial in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ HFWA opened at $25.31 on Wednesday. Heritage Financial has a twelve month low of $19.84 and a twelve month high of $26.54. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $23.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.75. The company has a market capitalization of $859.53 million, a PE ratio of 15.34 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.56. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 8.21% and a net margin of 17.27%.The company had revenue of $65.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.25 million. On average, research analysts predict that Heritage Financial will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 5th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 5th. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is currently 58.18%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, President Bryan Mcdonald bought 19,106 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 20th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $22.32 per share, for a total transaction of $426,445.92. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 31,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $700,022.16. This represents a 155.88% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the 1st quarter worth approximately $613,000. Penn Capital Management Company LLC acquired a new stake in Heritage Financial during the first quarter valued at approximately $631,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in Heritage Financial by 26.7% during the first quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 107,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,623,000 after buying an additional 22,718 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Heritage Financial in the first quarter worth approximately $2,491,000. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP grew its position in Heritage Financial by 73.1% in the first quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 116,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,845,000 after buying an additional 49,371 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

About Heritage Financial

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.