Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the four research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $25.00.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.50, for a total value of $78,837.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 20,119 shares in the company, valued at $533,153.50. This represents a 12.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heritage Financial

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HFWA. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Heritage Financial by 133.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 786 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Heritage Financial during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Heritage Financial during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 78.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Heritage Financial Price Performance

Shares of HFWA stock opened at $26.45 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $23.56 and its 200-day moving average is $21.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. Heritage Financial has a 52 week low of $16.55 and a 52 week high of $27.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $903.27 million, a PE ratio of 24.49 and a beta of 0.52.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $81.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.17 million. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 7.01%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.51 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Heritage Financial will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.19%.

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.