Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 517,000 shares, a decline of 9.3% from the August 15th total of 569,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 206,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Heritage Financial Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ HFWA traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $22.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 143,150 shares, compared to its average volume of 185,766. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Heritage Financial has a 52 week low of $15.50 and a 52 week high of $23.82. The stock has a market cap of $763.18 million, a P/E ratio of 16.55 and a beta of 0.53.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.04. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 14.59% and a return on equity of 7.95%. The firm had revenue of $56.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.27 million. Equities analysts forecast that Heritage Financial will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th were given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 7th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.18%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HFWA has been the subject of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heritage Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HFWA. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Heritage Financial by 72.3% in the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 133,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,856,000 after acquiring an additional 56,036 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial in the 1st quarter valued at $14,612,000. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 212.4% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 206,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,009,000 after buying an additional 140,592 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Heritage Financial by 70.5% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 112,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,180,000 after buying an additional 46,511 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Heritage Financial by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,733,722 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,085,000 after buying an additional 92,319 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

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.