Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Holdings Increased by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 9.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Heritage Financial were worth $126,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC grew its position in Heritage Financial by 17.1% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 43.7% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 5.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 29,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $578,000 after purchasing an additional 1,471 shares during the period. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the second quarter valued at $27,000. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Heritage Financial

In other Heritage Financial news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.50, for a total transaction of $78,837.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 20,119 shares in the company, valued at $533,153.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Heritage Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ HFWA opened at $26.26 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $905.97 million, a P/E ratio of 24.32 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.44. Heritage Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $16.38 and a 1 year high of $27.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.09). Heritage Financial had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 7.01%. The company had revenue of $81.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.51 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 6th. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 85.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on HFWA shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Stephens lifted their price target on Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.00.

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.