Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Boosts Holdings in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 73.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 35,933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 15,259 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Heritage Financial were worth $782,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of HFWA. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in Heritage Financial during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Heritage Financial during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Heritage Financial by 43.7% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Heritage Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HFWA opened at $26.17 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $24.54 and a 200 day moving average of $21.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The stock has a market cap of $893.81 million, a P/E ratio of 24.23 and a beta of 0.55. Heritage Financial Co. has a 12 month low of $16.55 and a 12 month high of $27.58.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 12.27%. The firm had revenue of $81.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.51 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is 85.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HFWA has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Heritage Financial 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 directly owns 20,119 shares in the company, valued at $533,153.50. The trade was a 12.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Heritage Financial 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.