Heritage Financial (HFWA) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. The company's loan portfolio includes commercial and industrial loans, owner-occupied and non-owner occupied commercial real estate loans, one-to-four family residential loans, real estate construction and land development loans, consumer loans, commercial business loans, lines of credit, term equipment financing, and term real estate loans, as well as commercial business loans to a range of businesses in industries that include real estate and rental and leasing, healthcare, accommodation and food services, retail trade, and construction. It also originates loans that are guaranteed by the U.S. Small Business Administration; and provides objective advice from trusted advisers. The company was formerly known as Heritage Financial Corporation, M.H.C. and changed its name to Heritage Financial Corporation in 1998. Heritage Financial Corporation was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Olympia, Washington.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $25.79 to $26.41
• 50-Day Range: $20.77 to $27.28
• 52-Week Range: $16.55 to $27.55
• Volume: 121,745 shs
• Average Volume: 215,794 shs
• Market Capitalization: $893.36 million
• P/E Ratio: 24.22
• Dividend Yield: 3.52%
• Price Target: $25.00
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Heritage Financial Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Heritage Financial scored higher than 83% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 297th out of 963 stocks in the finance sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 1.3 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Heritage Financial has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.50, and is based on 2 buy ratings, 2 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Heritage Financial has only been the subject of 2 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 3.1 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 15.76%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Heritage Financial are expected to grow by 15.76% in the coming year, from $1.65 to $1.91 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Heritage Financial is 24.22, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 110.87.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Heritage Financial is 24.22, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 26.17.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Heritage Financial has a P/B Ratio of 1.02. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 5.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

1.10% of the float of Heritage Financial has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Heritage Financial has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.1, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Heritage Financial has recently decreased by 13.34%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 4.2 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Leadership

Heritage Financial is a leading dividend payer. It pays a dividend yield of 3.52%, putting its dividend yield in the top 25% of dividend-paying stocks.

Dividend Growth

Heritage Financial has been increasing its dividend for 13 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Heritage Financial is 85.19%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Heritage Financial will have a dividend payout ratio of 48.17% next year. This indicates that Heritage Financial will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: N/A
• Environmental Score: N/A

Percentage of Shares Shorted

1.10% of the float of Heritage Financial has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Heritage Financial has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.1, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Heritage Financial has recently decreased by 13.34%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.43

News Sentiment

Heritage Financial has a news sentiment score of 1.43. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.68 average news sentiment score of Finance companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 2 news articles for Heritage Financial this week, compared to 2 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

Only 1 people have searched for HFWA on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of 0% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

2 people have added Heritage Financial to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 100% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Heritage Financial insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $78,838.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 1.80% of the stock of Heritage Financial is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

78.30% of the stock of Heritage Financial is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

HFWA Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have HFWA shares performed this year?

Heritage Financial's stock was trading at $21.39 on January 1st, 2024. Since then, HFWA shares have increased by 22.3% and is now trading at $26.16.
View the best growth stocks for 2024 here.

How were Heritage Financial's earnings last quarter?

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October, 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.09. The financial services provider had revenue of $81.65 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.17 million. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 12.27% and a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 7.01%.

Who are Heritage Financial's major shareholders?

Top institutional shareholders of Heritage Financial include Jennison Associates LLC (5.05%), State Street Corp (4.67%), Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. (3.60%) and Geode Capital Management LLC (2.37%). Insiders that own company stock include Brian L Vance, John A Clees, Jeffrey S Lyon, Brian Charneski, Tony Chalfant, Cindy M Huntley and Frederick B Rivera.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Heritage Financial?

Shares of HFWA stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.
Compare Top Brokerages Here.

What other stocks do shareholders of Heritage Financial own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Heritage Financial investors own include American Water Works (AWK), Waste Connections (WCN), DiamondRock Hospitality (DRH), AUO (AUOTY), The RMR Group (RMR), iShares Micro-Cap ETF (IWC) and Voyager Therapeutics (VYGR).

Company Calendar

• Ex-Dividend for 8/21 Dividend: 8/07/2024
• Dividend Payable: 8/21/2024
• Last Earnings: 10/24/2024
• Ex-Dividend for 11/20 Dividend: 11/06/2024
• Today: 11/17/2024
• Dividend Payable: 11/20/2024
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2024
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 1/23/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Finance
• Industry: Savings institutions, except federal
• Sub-Industry: Regional Banks
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:HFWA
• CUSIP: 42722X10
• CIK: 1046025
• Web: www.hf-wa.com
• Phone: (360) 943-1500
• Fax: 360-352-0864
• Employees: 748
• Year Founded: 1927

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $25.00
• High Stock Price Target: $28.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $23.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: -4.4%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.50
• Research Coverage: 4 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $1.08
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 24.22
• Forward P/E Ratio: 15.85
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $61.76 million
• Net Margins: 12.27%
• Pretax Margin: 13.89%
• Return on Equity: 7.01%
• Return on Assets: 0.84%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.46
• Current Ratio: 0.82
• Quick Ratio: 0.82

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $303.13 million
• Price / Sales: 2.95
• Cash Flow: $2.22 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 11.80
• Book Value: $25.60 per share
• Price / Book: 1.02

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 34,150,000
• Free Float: 33,539,000
• Market Cap: $893.36 million
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.52