Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $29.3333.

HFWA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 15th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Heritage Financial in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. DA Davidson set a $29.00 target price on Heritage Financial in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Heritage Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Heritage Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th.

Heritage Financial Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:HFWA opened at $25.31 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $859.53 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.34 and a beta of 0.52. Heritage Financial has a 1-year low of $19.84 and a 1-year high of $26.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56. The company had revenue of $65.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.25 million. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 17.27% and a return on equity of 8.21%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Heritage Financial will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 5th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 5th. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.18%.

Insider Activity at Heritage Financial

In other news, President Bryan Mcdonald acquired 19,106 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 20th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $22.32 per share, with a total value of $426,445.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 31,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $700,022.16. This trade represents a 155.88% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heritage Financial

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,977,315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $70,979,000 after buying an additional 225,201 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Heritage Financial by 9.2% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,626,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,531,000 after acquiring an additional 220,273 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 3,447 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 13.4% during 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. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $11,210,000. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.