Heritage Financial Corporation $HFWA Shares Sold by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reduced its stake in Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 56.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 161,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 210,832 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned approximately 0.47% of Heritage Financial worth $3,922,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HFWA. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Heritage Financial by 45.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 147,887 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,623,000 after purchasing an additional 46,260 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in Heritage Financial by 60.1% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 29,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $732,000 after purchasing an additional 11,210 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Heritage Financial by 81.6% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 7,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $194,000 after purchasing an additional 3,549 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Heritage Financial by 41.6% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 72,713 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,781,000 after purchasing an additional 21,375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its holdings in Heritage Financial by 475.6% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 3,989 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 3,296 shares in the last quarter. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Heritage Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.67.

Heritage Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HFWA opened at $24.24 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $24.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.59. Heritage Financial Corporation has a 52 week low of $19.84 and a 52 week high of $27.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $822.95 million, a P/E ratio of 16.95 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.03. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 15.22% and a return on equity of 7.34%. The company had revenue of $56.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.54 million. Analysts anticipate that Heritage Financial Corporation will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 6th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.13%.

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.