54,852 Shares in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Acquired by Nwam LLC

Nwam LLC bought a new stake in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 54,852 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,194,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Heritage Financial by 9.4% in the third quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Heritage Financial by 43.7% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Heritage Financial during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 29,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $578,000 after acquiring an additional 1,471 shares during the last quarter. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Heritage Financial Trading Up 2.8 %

NASDAQ:HFWA opened at $26.50 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $905.08 million, a P/E ratio of 24.54 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a fifty day moving average of $23.11 and a 200 day moving average of $20.96. Heritage Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $16.55 and a 52 week high of $27.55.

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). The firm had revenue of $81.65 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.17 million. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 7.01%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.19%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 12.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on HFWA shares. 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 report on Monday, October 28th. Stephens raised their price objective on Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Three 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.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.00.

Heritage Financial Profile

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.