Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Has $881,000 Stake in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its stake in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 60.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 48,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,325 shares during the quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp owned approximately 0.14% of Heritage Financial worth $881,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $325,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC grew its stake in Heritage Financial by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 220,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,978,000 after buying an additional 11,318 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Heritage Financial by 61.2% in the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 6,807 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 786 shares during the last quarter. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ HFWA opened at $22.28 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $21.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.41. Heritage Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $15.50 and a 52-week high of $23.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $772.89 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.90 and a beta of 0.53.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.27 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 7th. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is presently 69.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on HFWA. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Heritage Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Heritage Financial from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.50.

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.