DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Invests $81,000 in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 3,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $81,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,193,834 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $111,148,000 after acquiring an additional 254,391 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,237,984 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,084,000 after acquiring an additional 113,812 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,076,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,437,000 after acquiring an additional 45,332 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Heritage Financial by 12.4% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,918,401 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,021,000 after purchasing an additional 211,547 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in Heritage Financial by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,708,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,822,000 after purchasing an additional 151,365 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Heritage Financial Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ HFWA opened at $17.34 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. Heritage Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $14.85 and a 52-week high of $22.55. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $18.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.66. The stock has a market cap of $600.92 million, a P/E ratio of 9.91 and a beta of 0.54.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 20.37% and a return on equity of 8.66%. The firm had revenue of $50.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.00 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.74 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 8th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 7th. This is a boost from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.31%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 52.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HFWA has been the subject of several research reports. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Heritage Financial in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.25.

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.