Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 400,600 shares, a growth of 8.9% from the October 31st total of 367,700 shares. Currently, 1.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 172,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HFWA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.00.

Heritage Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HFWA traded down $0.30 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $25.98. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 18,671 shares, compared to its average volume of 183,680. The company has a market cap of $887.22 million, a P/E ratio of 24.33 and a beta of 0.55. Heritage Financial has a fifty-two week low of $16.55 and a fifty-two week high of $27.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $23.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.26.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 7.01%. The firm had revenue of $81.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Heritage Financial will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.54%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heritage Financial

In other news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was 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. This trade represents a 12.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.68% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heritage Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Heritage Financial by 133.7% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 786 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Heritage Financial during the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Heritage Financial in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

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.