Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Short Interest Update

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 414,900 shares, an increase of 7.2% from the November 30th total of 386,900 shares. Currently, 1.2% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 176,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Insider Transactions at Heritage Financial

In other news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 20,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $533,153.50. The trade was a 12.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Heritage Financial

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Heritage Financial during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in Heritage Financial during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Heritage Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Heritage Financial by 43.7% in 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 period. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in 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. 78.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HFWA traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $24.50. The company had a trading volume of 176,790 shares, compared to its average volume of 185,350. Heritage Financial has a 1 year low of $16.55 and a 1 year high of $27.58. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.41. 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 $836.77 million, a P/E ratio of 22.69 and a beta of 0.55.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $81.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 business earned $0.51 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Heritage Financial will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.19%.

Heritage Financial Company 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.