Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) shares reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $27.58 and last traded at $27.15, with a volume of 38727 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.50.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on HFWA. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Stephens increased their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.00.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $23.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.98. The company has a market cap of $914.54 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.54 and a beta of 0.52. 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 (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $81.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.17 million. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 12.27%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is 85.19%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $533,153.50. The trade was a 12.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heritage Financial

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of HFWA. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 70.5% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 112,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,180,000 after purchasing an additional 46,511 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Heritage Financial by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,852 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,884,000 after buying an additional 80,044 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Heritage Financial by 71.4% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,741,058 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,903,000 after buying an additional 725,257 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 43.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 601 shares during the period. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the second quarter worth $27,000. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.