Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) Raised to "Hold" at StockNews.com

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Monday.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Stephens lifted their price target 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 Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HFWA traded up $0.90 on Monday, reaching $25.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 331,596 shares, compared to its average volume of 174,850. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $872.53 million, a P/E ratio of 23.66 and a beta of 0.57. Heritage Financial has a 52-week low of $16.55 and a 52-week high of $27.58.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.06. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 12.27%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Heritage Financial will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.50, for a total transaction of $78,837.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,119 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $533,153.50. The trade was a 12.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Frederick B. Rivera sold 4,000 shares of the business'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 value of $101,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,844 shares of the company's stock, valued at $97,752.92. The trade was a 50.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Heritage Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HFWA. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Heritage Financial by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,852 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $34,884,000 after purchasing an additional 80,044 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in Heritage Financial by 5.4% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 76,310 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,376,000 after buying an additional 3,877 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in Heritage Financial during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in Heritage Financial in the second quarter worth approximately $951,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Heritage Financial during the second quarter worth $25,000. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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