Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $30.50.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Heritage Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. 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.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Donald Hinson sold 3,842 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 41,241 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,170,007.17. This represents a 8.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heritage Financial

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 3.4% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,213,473 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $83,550,000 after acquiring an additional 106,308 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position 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 worth $63,531,000 after acquiring an additional 220,273 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 worth $57,051,000 after acquiring an additional 45,422 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,573,458 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,212,000 after acquiring an additional 48,765 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 842,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,929,000 after acquiring an additional 4,170 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:HFWA opened at $28.25 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.85 and a beta of 0.49. Heritage Financial has a fifty-two week low of $21.32 and a fifty-two week high of $29.29. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $27.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.22.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $77.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.31 million. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 20.50% and a return on equity of 8.71%. Analysts expect that Heritage Financial will post 2.39 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 6th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.06%.

About Heritage Financial

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.