Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Short Interest Update

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 517,000 shares, a decline of 9.3% from the August 15th total of 569,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 206,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days. Currently, 1.5% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Heritage Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Heritage Financial from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.50.

Heritage Financial Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:HFWA traded up $0.07 on Wednesday, reaching $22.07. The company had a trading volume of 136,129 shares, compared to its average volume of 185,490. Heritage Financial has a twelve month low of $15.50 and a twelve month high of $23.82. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $21.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $765.61 million, a P/E ratio of 16.43 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.04. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.95% and a net margin of 14.59%. The business had revenue of $56.36 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.27 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Heritage Financial will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 7th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 7th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.17%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.17%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heritage Financial

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HFWA. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 133.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 786 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Heritage Financial during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in Heritage Financial during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Heritage Financial during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.