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 during the month of 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. Currently, 1.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 176,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Heritage Financial news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.50, for a total value of $78,837.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,119 shares in the company, valued at $533,153.50. The trade was a 12.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heritage Financial

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HFWA. Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 70.5% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 112,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,180,000 after purchasing an additional 46,511 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 4.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,852 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,884,000 after purchasing an additional 80,044 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 43.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the second quarter worth about $951,000. 78.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Heritage Financial Stock Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ HFWA traded down $0.47 during mid-day trading 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. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.78. Heritage Financial has a twelve month low of $16.55 and a twelve month high of $27.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $877.31 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.79 and a beta of 0.52.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.09). Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 12.27%. The company had revenue of $81.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.17 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Heritage Financial will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 6th. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.