Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Boosts Stock Holdings in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,934,852 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 80,044 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 5.58% of Heritage Financial worth $34,884,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Heritage Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $557,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Heritage Financial by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 278,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,013,000 after buying an additional 8,112 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its holdings in Heritage Financial by 60.0% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 48,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $881,000 after acquiring an additional 18,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter worth $325,000. Institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HFWA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Heritage Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Heritage Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.50.

Heritage Financial Stock Down 4.6 %

HFWA stock opened at $20.77 on Wednesday. Heritage Financial Co. has a fifty-two week low of $15.50 and a fifty-two week high of $23.82. The company has a market capitalization of $720.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.62 and a beta of 0.53. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $21.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $56.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.27 million. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.95% and a net margin of 14.59%. As a group, analysts forecast that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.43%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.17%.

Heritage Financial 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.