Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the six research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $30.50.

HFWA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research cut shares of Heritage Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Heritage Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th.

Heritage Financial Trading Up 1.5%

HFWA stock opened at $28.34 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $27.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.04. Heritage Financial has a one year low of $21.32 and a one year high of $28.98. The stock has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.89 and a beta of 0.49.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 20.50% and a return on equity of 8.71%. The firm had revenue of $77.92 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.31 million. Equities analysts anticipate that Heritage Financial will post 2.39 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 6th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 6th. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is presently 47.06%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heritage Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 2.9% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 18,381 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $478,000 after acquiring an additional 514 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $195,000 after acquiring an additional 592 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 20,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $488,000 after acquiring an additional 881 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,171 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 891 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 2.7% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 35,891 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $868,000 after acquiring an additional 960 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Heritage Financial Company Profile

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.