Heritage Financial Co. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.23 (NASDAQ:HFWA)

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be paid a dividend of 0.23 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 7th.

Heritage Financial has raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 2 consecutive years. Heritage Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 48.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Heritage Financial to earn $1.84 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.0%.

Heritage Financial Stock Down 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ HFWA opened at $18.09 on Friday. Heritage Financial has a 1 year low of $14.85 and a 1 year high of $22.55. The firm has a market cap of $626.82 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.34 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.72.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 8.66% and a net margin of 20.37%. The business had revenue of $50.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.00 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Heritage Financial will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on HFWA shares. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Heritage Financial in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Heritage Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.25.

Heritage Financial Company Profile

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.