Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in Heritage Financial Corporation $HFWA

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 18,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $473,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. CWM LLC increased its stake in Heritage Financial by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $195,000 after purchasing an additional 592 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 4.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 20,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $488,000 after purchasing an additional 881 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,171 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 891 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 7.2% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 15,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 1,052 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 99.1% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 1,431 shares during the last quarter. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Donald Hinson sold 3,842 shares of Heritage Financial 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 41,241 shares in the company, valued at $1,170,007.17. The trade was a 8.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Heritage Financial Trading Down 2.5%

NASDAQ HFWA opened at $28.70 on Thursday. Heritage Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $21.32 and a fifty-two week high of $30.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.70. The stock has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.07 and a beta of 0.49.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 8.71% and a net margin of 20.50%.The firm had revenue of $77.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.31 million. On average, analysts forecast that Heritage Financial Corporation will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on HFWA shares. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research raised shares of Heritage Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.50.

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.