Heritage Financial Corporation $HFWA Shares Purchased by State of Alaska Department of Revenue

State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its holdings in Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 7.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,292 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,457 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue owned 0.06% of Heritage Financial worth $483,000 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. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 24.7% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,752,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,959,000 after purchasing an additional 545,348 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 15,727.7% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,480,997 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,033,000 after purchasing an additional 1,471,640 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 246,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,992,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 193,820 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,716,000 after purchasing an additional 4,101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 21.0% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 174,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,237,000 after purchasing an additional 30,238 shares in the last quarter. 78.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Heritage Financial Price Performance

HFWA stock opened at $23.88 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Heritage Financial Corporation has a 52-week low of $19.84 and a 52-week high of $27.58. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $24.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.65. The company has a market capitalization of $810.73 million, a PE ratio of 16.70 and a beta of 0.53.

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

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HFWA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. DA Davidson set a $29.00 price objective on Heritage Financial in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered Heritage Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Heritage Financial in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Heritage Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Heritage Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Heritage Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.50.

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.