Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Shares Sold by Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lowered its holdings in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 20.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 132,804 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 34,614 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Heritage Financial were worth $2,841,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in Heritage Financial by 829.4% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,609 shares during the period. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new stake in Heritage Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in Heritage Financial by 34.4% in the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,749 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 703 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in Heritage Financial by 75.6% in the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 1,064 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Middle East FZE acquired a new stake in Heritage Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $69,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on HFWA. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Heritage Financial in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. DA Davidson cut their price target on Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com raised Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.25.

Heritage Financial Trading Up 3.5 %

NASDAQ:HFWA opened at $18.17 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.68. Heritage Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $14.85 and a 52-week high of $22.55. The company has a market capitalization of $629.59 million, a PE ratio of 10.38 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.47 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $62.00 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, February 8th were paid a $0.23 dividend. This is an increase from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 7th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.06%. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is presently 52.57%.

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.