Short Interest in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Declines By 13.3%

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) was the recipient of a significant 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 presently 2.1 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Heritage Financial news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.50, for a total transaction of $78,837.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $533,153.50. This trade represents a 12.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Boston Partners increased its stake 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 buying an additional 46,511 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings 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 valued at $34,884,000 after acquiring an additional 80,044 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 43.7% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Heritage Financial during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Heritage Financial in the second quarter valued at about $951,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

HFWA stock traded down $0.47 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 1 year low of $16.55 and a 1 year 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 stock has a market cap of $877.31 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.79 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $22.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.78.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $81.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 company posted $0.51 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Heritage Financial will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.58%. 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.