Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Wall Street Analysts

Shares of Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $32.67.

HFWA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Brean Capital raised Heritage Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Heritage Financial in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Stephens upped their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Capital One Financial set a $33.00 price target on Heritage Financial in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th.

Heritage Financial Stock Down 0.6%

HFWA stock opened at $28.39 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.87. Heritage Financial has a twelve month low of $21.32 and a twelve month high of $31.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a PE ratio of 14.12 and a beta of 0.53.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $86.51 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.11 million. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 19.24% and a return on equity of 8.70%. On average, equities analysts predict that Heritage Financial will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 4th. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is 49.75%.

Insider Transactions at Heritage Financial

In other news, Director Frederick Rivera sold 1,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.57, for a total value of $37,141.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,890 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $168,277.30. This represents a 18.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Matthew Ray sold 3,692 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.10, for a total value of $111,129.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 22,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $684,323.50. The trade was a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Heritage Financial during the second quarter valued at about $172,125,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 3.4% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,213,473 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $83,550,000 after buying an additional 106,308 shares during the last quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at $20,408,000. Algebris UK Ltd. bought a new position in Heritage Financial in the second quarter worth about $13,860,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $11,817,000. Institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Heritage Financial Company Profile

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: HFWA) is a bank holding company headquartered in Olympia, Washington. The company operates primarily through Heritage Bank, a community-focused financial institution serving businesses, individuals and organizations in Washington and Oregon.

Heritage Bank provides commercial and residential real estate lending, business and consumer loans, deposit accounts, cash-management and treasury services, online and mobile banking, and other traditional banking products.