Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) Upgraded to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning.

HFWA has been the topic of a number of other reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Heritage Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Heritage Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Heritage Financial in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $29.00 price target on Heritage Financial in a research note on Monday, September 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.33.

Heritage Financial Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ HFWA traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $22.22. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 127,032 shares, compared to its average volume of 206,415. Heritage Financial has a 12-month low of $19.84 and a 12-month high of $27.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market cap of $754.52 million, a P/E ratio of 13.47 and a beta of 0.57. The business’s 50 day moving average is $23.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.68.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56. The business had revenue of $65.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.25 million. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 8.21% and a net margin of 17.27%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Heritage Financial will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 5th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.18%.

Institutional Trading of Heritage Financial

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of HFWA. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 14.8% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $98,000 after acquiring an additional 520 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 15,727.7% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,480,997 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,033,000 after purchasing an additional 1,471,640 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 24.7% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,752,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $66,959,000 after purchasing an additional 545,348 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Heritage Financial in the 1st quarter worth approximately $844,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Heritage Financial during the 1st quarter worth approximately $443,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.