JPMorgan Chase & Co. Raises Stock Holdings in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 123,283 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.36% of Heritage Financial worth $2,684,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 278,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,013,000 after buying an additional 8,112 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Heritage Financial by 4.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,852 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,884,000 after acquiring an additional 80,044 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Heritage Financial by 5.6% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 321,089 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,789,000 after acquiring an additional 17,100 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $410,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 76,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,376,000 after purchasing an additional 3,877 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Heritage Financial Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of HFWA stock opened at $24.55 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $838.38 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.73 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.08. Heritage Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $16.55 and a 1 year high of $27.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $81.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.17 million. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 12.27%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.51 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.50, for a total transaction of $78,837.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $533,153.50. This trade represents a 12.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.68% of the company’s stock.

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.