Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. trimmed its position in Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 79.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 83,928 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.06% of Heritage Financial worth $513,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Heritage Financial by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 189,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,648,000 after purchasing an additional 5,751 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $274,000. Mengis Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Heritage Financial by 98.3% in the 4th quarter. Mengis Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $498,000 after purchasing an additional 10,068 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Heritage Financial in the fourth quarter worth approximately $280,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,249,905 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,623,000 after purchasing an additional 8,731 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Heritage Financial Trading Up 1.0%

NASDAQ:HFWA opened at $22.55 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $23.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.90. Heritage Financial Corporation has a twelve month low of $16.69 and a twelve month high of $27.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $769.18 million, a P/E ratio of 15.24 and a beta of 0.55.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $57.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.74 million. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 7.12%. As a group, analysts expect that Heritage Financial Corporation will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.26%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.86%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on HFWA. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Heritage Financial from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th.

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.