DA Davidson Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA)

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities research analysts at DA Davidson in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $28.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock. DA Davidson’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 12.68% from the stock’s previous close.

Separately, Wall Street Zen lowered Heritage Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.75.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

HFWA opened at $24.85 on Friday. Heritage Financial has a 1-year low of $19.84 and a 1-year high of $27.58. The company has a market cap of $843.66 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.38 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $23.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.62. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.03. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 15.22% and a return on equity of 7.34%. The firm had revenue of $56.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.54 million. On average, analysts expect that Heritage Financial will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $3,623,000 after buying an additional 46,260 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Heritage Financial by 2.2% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 193,820 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,716,000 after acquiring an additional 4,101 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Heritage Financial in the first quarter valued at about $844,000. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Heritage Financial in the first quarter valued at about $613,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 26.7% during the 1st quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 107,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,623,000 after acquiring an additional 22,718 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

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.