Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 367,700 shares, a decline of 13.3% from the October 15th total of 424,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 176,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Stephens boosted their price objective on Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.50, for a total value of $78,837.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $533,153.50. This represents a 12.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heritage Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HFWA. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 71.4% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,741,058 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,903,000 after purchasing an additional 725,257 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Heritage Financial by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,852 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,884,000 after buying an additional 80,044 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC purchased a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the third quarter worth $1,194,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Heritage Financial during the second quarter worth $951,000. Finally, Boston Partners increased its holdings in Heritage Financial by 70.5% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 112,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,180,000 after acquiring an additional 46,511 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ HFWA traded down $0.47 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $25.69. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 96,430 shares, compared to its average volume of 185,368. Heritage Financial has a 12 month low of $16.55 and a 12 month high of $27.55. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $877.31 million, a P/E ratio of 23.79 and a beta of 0.52.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $81.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.17 million. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 12.27%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Heritage Financial will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 6th. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.19%.

About Heritage Financial

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.