Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Raises Stake in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA - Free Report) by 12.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 433,296 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 46,769 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned 1.27% of Heritage Financial worth $10,616,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Heritage Financial by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,206,766 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $54,066,000 after acquiring an additional 465,708 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Heritage Financial by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,594,963 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $34,722,000 after acquiring an additional 4,012 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Heritage Financial by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,249,905 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $30,623,000 after acquiring an additional 8,731 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Heritage Financial by 83.3% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 225,948 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,536,000 after acquiring an additional 102,665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 189,719 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,648,000 after purchasing an additional 5,751 shares during the period. 78.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jeffrey J. Deuel sold 7,033 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.66, for a total value of $166,400.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 70,906 shares in the company, valued at $1,677,635.96. This trade represents a 9.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frederick B. Rivera sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.43, for a total transaction of $101,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,844 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $97,752.92. This trade represents a 50.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 15,311 shares of company stock worth $369,193. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company's stock.

Heritage Financial Price Performance

Heritage Financial stock traded down $0.86 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $21.40. 18,745 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 265,257. The company has a market cap of $727.41 million, a P/E ratio of 17.26 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Heritage Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $16.55 and a twelve month high of $27.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $23.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.13.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.06. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 13.64% and a return on equity of 7.17%. Equities analysts expect that Heritage Financial Co. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This is an increase from Heritage Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. Heritage Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Heritage Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

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.