GAMMA Investing LLC Raises Position in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 43.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 601 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Heritage Financial were worth $43,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of HFWA. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new position in Heritage Financial during the 1st quarter valued at $14,612,000. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 212.4% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 206,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,009,000 after acquiring an additional 140,592 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 4.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,852 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,884,000 after buying an additional 80,044 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in Heritage Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,602,000. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $951,000. Institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.50.

Heritage Financial Price Performance

Shares of HFWA stock opened at $23.07 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $800.30 million, a PE ratio of 17.35 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $21.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.80. Heritage Financial Co. has a 12 month low of $15.50 and a 12 month high of $23.82.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last issued 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 company had revenue of $56.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.27 million. Analysts predict that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th were paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.99%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 7th. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.