Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Receives $25.00 Average PT from Analysts

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the four ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $25.00.

A number of analysts have weighed in on HFWA shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th.

Heritage Financial Trading Up 15.1 %

Shares of HFWA stock traded up $3.57 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $27.28. 743,178 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 185,100. The stock has a market cap of $941.16 million, a PE ratio of 25.26 and a beta of 0.52. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $22.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Heritage Financial has a 12 month low of $16.38 and a 12 month high of $27.43.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $81.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.17 million. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 12.27%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Heritage Financial will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 6th. Heritage Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.19%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Heritage Financial by 133.7% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,374 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 786 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Heritage Financial in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.30% of the company's stock.

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.