Heritage Financial Corporation $HFWA Shares Purchased by Deprince Race & Zollo Inc.

Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 61.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 70,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 26,727 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. owned about 0.21% of Heritage Financial worth $1,706,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Heritage Financial during the 1st quarter valued at $613,000. Trexquant Investment LP increased its holdings in Heritage Financial by 73.1% in the 1st quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 116,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,845,000 after purchasing an additional 49,371 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Heritage Financial by 15.1% in the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 155,661 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,787,000 after purchasing an additional 20,459 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 7.7% during the second quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 20,292 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $483,000 after purchasing an additional 1,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 34.2% in the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 38,048 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $926,000 after buying an additional 9,703 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on HFWA. Wall Street Zen upgraded Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Heritage Financial in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Heritage Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $29.00 price target on shares of Heritage Financial in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.33.

Heritage Financial Trading Down 0.3%

HFWA opened at $24.45 on Monday. Heritage Financial Corporation has a 12-month low of $19.84 and a 12-month high of $26.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $830.32 million, a PE ratio of 14.82 and a beta of 0.52. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $23.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.84.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.56. The company had revenue of $65.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.25 million. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 17.27% and a return on equity of 8.21%. As a group, research analysts expect that Heritage Financial Corporation will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 5th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, President Bryan Mcdonald bought 19,106 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 20th. The shares were bought at an average price of $22.32 per share, with a total value of $426,445.92. Following the acquisition, the president directly owned 31,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $700,022.16. This represents a 155.88% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Heritage Financial Company Profile

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) is a bank holding company headquartered in Spokane, Washington. Through its primary subsidiary, Heritage Bank, the company provides a comprehensive range of banking and financial services to both individual and commercial clients. Heritage Bank’s offerings encompass deposit products, lending solutions, treasury and cash management services, mortgage banking, and wealth management, positioning the organization as a full-service community bank.

The company’s lending portfolio includes commercial real estate loans, agricultural loans, small business administration (SBA) loans, construction and development financing, and a variety of consumer mortgage products.