Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $32.67.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on HFWA. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Heritage Financial in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Capital One Financial set a $33.00 price objective on shares of Heritage Financial in a report on Tuesday. Brean Capital upgraded shares of Heritage Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heritage Financial

In other Heritage Financial news, EVP Matthew T. Ray sold 3,692 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.10, for a total transaction 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kelli Wilson sold 3,778 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.69, for a total value of $112,168.82. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,099 shares in the company, valued at $92,009.31. The trade was a 54.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 22,004 shares of company stock valued at $657,200. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HFWA. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,665,000. Heartland Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Heritage Financial during the second quarter worth approximately $8,146,000. Rhino Investment Partners Inc lifted its position in Heritage Financial by 77.7% in the first quarter. Rhino Investment Partners Inc now owns 330,459 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,592,000 after purchasing an additional 144,515 shares during the period. Martin & Co. Inc. TN acquired a new stake in Heritage Financial in the second quarter worth approximately $4,031,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $9,142,000. Institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Heritage Financial Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of Heritage Financial stock opened at $28.25 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.45 and a beta of 0.48. Heritage Financial has a twelve month low of $21.32 and a twelve 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. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.02.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.13. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 20.44%.The business had revenue of $84.12 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.30 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Heritage Financial will post 2.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 5th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. This is a boost from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 5th. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.62%.

About Heritage Financial

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: HFWA) is a bank holding company headquartered in Olympia, Washington. Through its principal subsidiary, Heritage Bank, the company provides a range of banking and financial services to businesses, individuals, and organizations in communities across Washington and Oregon.

Heritage Bank’s offerings include commercial and industrial lending, commercial real estate and construction loans, residential real estate financing, consumer loans, deposit accounts, cash-management services, online and mobile banking, and other treasury-management solutions.