Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) to Issue $0.23 Quarterly Dividend

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 23rd, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be given a dividend of 0.23 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 6th.

Heritage Financial has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. Heritage Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 50.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Heritage Financial to earn $1.85 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 49.7%.

Heritage Financial Price Performance

HFWA opened at $23.20 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $800.40 million, a P/E ratio of 21.48 and a beta of 0.52. Heritage Financial has a 12 month low of $16.32 and a 12 month high of $23.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.16.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.09). Heritage Financial had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 7.01%. The business had revenue of $81.65 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.17 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Heritage Financial will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Heritage Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Stephens increased their price objective on Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Heritage Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.00.

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.