Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $31.25.

A number of brokerages have commented on HFWA. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings raised Heritage Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday. DA Davidson increased their price target on Heritage Financial from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Heritage Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th.

Heritage Financial Price Performance

Shares of HFWA stock opened at $25.35 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $26.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.63. Heritage Financial has a 52-week low of $19.84 and a 52-week high of $28.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.93 and a beta of 0.51.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $66.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $65.95 million. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 8.61% and a net margin of 20.10%. As a group, sell-side 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, February 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 28th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.98%.

Insider Activity

In other Heritage Financial news, Director Frederick B. Rivera sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.31, for a total value of $47,358.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,813.32. This trade represents a 26.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 4,668 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.65, for a total transaction of $129,070.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 19,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $549,405.50. This trade represents a 19.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,368 shares of company stock worth $226,740. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Heritage Financial

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Algebris UK Ltd. acquired a new stake in Heritage Financial during the 3rd quarter worth about $10,775,000. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its holdings in Heritage Financial by 61.0% in the third quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 70,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,706,000 after buying an additional 26,727 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 504,509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,027,000 after purchasing an additional 59,633 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Heritage Financial by 0.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 828,029 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,741,000 after purchasing an additional 3,447 shares during the period. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $750,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

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.