Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) Stock Has Average Price Target of $32.67

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $32.67.

HFWA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Brean Capital upgraded Heritage Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Heritage Financial in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Stephens boosted their target price on Heritage Financial from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Capital One Financial set a $33.00 target price on shares of Heritage Financial in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Heritage Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd.

Heritage Financial Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ HFWA opened at $27.55 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.12 and a beta of 0.50. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.28. Heritage Financial has a 12-month low of $21.32 and a 12-month high of $31.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $84.12 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.30 million. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 8.78%. Equities research analysts expect that Heritage Financial will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 5th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 5th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is an increase from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is currently 47.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heritage Financial

In related news, Director Jeffrey S. Lyon sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $300,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 40,719 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,221,570. This represents a 19.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Matthew T. Ray sold 3,692 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.10, for a total value of $111,129.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 22,735 shares in the company, valued at $684,323.50. This represents a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 22,004 shares of company stock worth $657,200 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

Heritage Financial Company Profile

Heritage Financial Corporation is a bank holding company headquartered in Olympia, Washington. Through its principal subsidiary, Heritage Bank, the company provides a range of banking services to individuals, businesses and organizations in the Pacific Northwest.

Heritage Bank offers commercial and consumer deposit accounts, business and residential real estate lending, commercial loans, construction financing, consumer loans, treasury management and other financial services. The bank serves clients through a network of branches and digital banking channels, with operations concentrated in Washington and Oregon.

Heritage Financial traces its roots to Heritage Bank, which was established in 1927.