Yousif Capital Management LLC Sells 565 Shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

Yousif Capital Management LLC decreased its position in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 13,089 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 565 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Heritage Financial were worth $321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Heritage Financial by 26.7% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,206,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,066,000 after buying an additional 465,708 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,594,963 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,722,000 after acquiring an additional 4,012 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 123,283 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,684,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 5.4% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 113,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,463,000 after purchasing an additional 5,762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in Heritage Financial by 105.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 73,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,595,000 after purchasing an additional 37,606 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Frederick B. Rivera sold 4,000 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.43, for a total value of $101,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,752.92. The trade was a 50.99 % 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 corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on HFWA shares. Stephens upped their target price on shares of 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 upped their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th.

Heritage Financial Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of Heritage Financial stock opened at $24.25 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.68. Heritage Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $16.55 and a 52-week high of $27.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $828.14 million, a PE ratio of 19.56 and a beta of 0.56.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.06. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 13.64%. On average, analysts anticipate that Heritage Financial Co. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 6th. This is a positive change from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.96%. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is currently 77.42%.

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.