Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $4.65 Million Stock Holdings in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 189,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,751 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.56% of Heritage Financial worth $4,648,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in Heritage Financial by 9.4% during the third quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 113,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,463,000 after acquiring an additional 5,762 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Heritage Financial by 71.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,741,058 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,903,000 after acquiring an additional 725,257 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC acquired a new stake in Heritage Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,194,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in Heritage Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $338,000. 78.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Frederick B. Rivera sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.43, for a total value of $101,720.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,844 shares in the company, valued at $97,752.92. This represents a 50.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Heritage Financial stock opened at $25.19 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.91. Heritage Financial Co. has a fifty-two week low of $16.55 and a fifty-two week high of $27.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $860.34 million, a P/E ratio of 20.31 and a beta of 0.56.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.06. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 13.64%. Sell-side analysts predict that Heritage Financial Co. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. This is an increase from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.81%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.42%.

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.