The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Buys Shares of 308,640 Heritage Financial Corporation $HFWA

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in shares of Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 308,640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,142,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 2.9% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 18,381 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $195,000 after buying an additional 592 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Heritage Financial by 12.2% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $193,000 after buying an additional 710 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in Heritage Financial by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 20,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $488,000 after acquiring an additional 881 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its position in Heritage Financial by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 67,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,746,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on HFWA shares. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Heritage Financial from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen raised Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Heritage Financial from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Heritage Financial in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Heritage Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Heritage Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.50.

Heritage Financial Stock Up 0.0%

HFWA stock opened at $28.67 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.86. The company has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.65 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83. Heritage Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $21.32 and a fifty-two week high of $31.25.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.13. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 8.78%. The firm had revenue of $84.12 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.30 million. On average, research analysts expect that Heritage Financial Corporation will post 2.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 5th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 5th. This is a positive change from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is currently 47.62%.

Insider Transactions at Heritage Financial

In other news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 3,234 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.92, for a total value of $96,761.28. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 20,362 shares in the company, valued at $609,231.04. The trade was a 13.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Donald Hinson sold 3,842 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.37, for a total value of $108,997.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 41,241 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,170,007.17. This represents a 8.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,546 shares of company stock worth $729,057. Company insiders own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Heritage Financial Company Profile

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) is a bank holding company headquartered in Spokane, Washington. Through its primary subsidiary, Heritage Bank, the company provides a comprehensive range of banking and financial services to both individual and commercial clients. Heritage Bank’s offerings encompass deposit products, lending solutions, treasury and cash management services, mortgage banking, and wealth management, positioning the organization as a full-service community bank.

The company’s lending portfolio includes commercial real estate loans, agricultural loans, small business administration (SBA) loans, construction and development financing, and a variety of consumer mortgage products.