Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) Hits New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $29.50 and last traded at $29.2340, with a volume of 9175 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $28.98.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on HFWA shares. Wall Street Zen raised Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Heritage Financial from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings raised Heritage Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Heritage Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.50.

Heritage Financial Stock Up 1.1%

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.39. The company has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.39 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 8.71% and a net margin of 20.50%.The company had revenue of $77.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.31 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Heritage Financial Corporation will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 6th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Heritage Financial news, CFO Donald Hinson sold 3,842 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.37, for a total transaction of $108,997.54. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 41,241 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,170,007.17. This trade represents a 8.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Heritage Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HFWA. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,213,473 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $83,550,000 after acquiring an additional 106,308 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Heritage Financial by 9.2% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,626,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,531,000 after purchasing an additional 220,273 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Heritage Financial by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,412,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,051,000 after purchasing an additional 45,422 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Heritage Financial by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,573,458 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,212,000 after purchasing an additional 48,765 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Heritage Financial by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 842,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,929,000 after purchasing an additional 4,170 shares during the period. 78.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.