WINTON GROUP Ltd Buys 23,332 Shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 211.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,332 shares during the quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd owned about 0.10% of Heritage Financial worth $842,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Heritage Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $157,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in Heritage Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $166,000. Zions Bancorporation N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $168,000. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $215,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Heritage Financial during the 4th quarter worth about $229,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com raised Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jeffrey J. Deuel sold 7,033 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.66, for a total transaction of $166,400.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 70,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,677,635.96. The trade was a 9.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Frederick B. Rivera sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.43, for a total transaction of $101,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,752.92. This trade represents a 50.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,311 shares of company stock worth $369,193 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:HFWA opened at $24.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.84. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $24.48 and its 200-day moving average is $24.10. Heritage Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $16.55 and a 52-week high of $27.58. The company has a market cap of $820.54 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.47 and a beta of 0.53.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.06. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 13.64%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Heritage Financial Co. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a $0.24 dividend. This is a boost from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.42%.

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.