Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stake in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 183,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,002 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.54% of Heritage Financial worth $4,005,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Heritage Financial during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial in the second quarter worth about $31,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Heritage Financial by 43.7% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC grew its holdings in Heritage Financial by 17.1% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 481 shares during the period. 78.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.50, for a total value of $78,837.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $533,153.50. The trade was a 12.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Heritage Financial Stock Down 1.8 %

Heritage Financial stock opened at $24.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $821.40 million, a PE ratio of 22.27 and a beta of 0.55. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.44. Heritage Financial Co. has a 12 month low of $16.55 and a 12 month high of $27.58.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.09). Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 12.27%. The company had revenue of $81.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is 85.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on HFWA. Stephens upped their price objective on Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.00.

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.