Wells Fargo & Company MN Purchases 4,410 Shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its position in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 24.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,410 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned 0.07% of Heritage Financial worth $548,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in HFWA. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Heritage Financial by 105.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 73,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,595,000 after acquiring an additional 37,606 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 0.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 123,283 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,684,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Heritage Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $215,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Heritage Financial by 26.7% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,206,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,066,000 after buying an additional 465,708 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Heritage Financial by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 24,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $607,000 after buying an additional 3,814 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Heritage Financial news, CFO Donald Hinson sold 3,420 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.59, for a total transaction of $80,677.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 42,087 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $992,832.33. This trade represents a 7.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey J. Deuel sold 7,033 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.66, for a total transaction of $166,400.78. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 70,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,677,635.96. The trade was a 9.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,311 shares of company stock valued at $267,473 over the last quarter. 1.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Heritage Financial from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. StockNews.com upgraded Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th.

Heritage Financial Stock Up 2.3 %

HFWA opened at $23.58 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Heritage Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $16.55 and a twelve month high of $27.58. The company has a market cap of $801.51 million, a PE ratio of 19.02 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $23.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.22.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $57.59 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.74 million. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 13.64% and a return on equity of 7.17%. Sell-side analysts expect that Heritage Financial Co. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.07%. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is 64.86%.

About Heritage Financial

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.