Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) Given New $26.00 Price Target at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) had its price objective trimmed by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $27.00 to $26.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a market perform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

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

Heritage Financial Price Performance

Heritage Financial stock opened at $22.77 on Monday. Heritage Financial has a 12 month low of $16.55 and a 12 month high of $27.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.22. The company has a market cap of $773.98 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.36 and a beta of 0.47.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $57.59 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.74 million. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 13.64%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Heritage Financial will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.22%. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is 77.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Heritage Financial news, CEO Jeffrey J. Deuel sold 7,033 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.66, for a total value of $166,400.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 70,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,677,635.96. The trade was a 9.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Donald Hinson sold 3,420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.59, for a total value of $80,677.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 42,087 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $992,832.33. This represents a 7.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,311 shares of company stock worth $267,473 in the last quarter. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heritage Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HFWA. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Heritage Financial by 794.1% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 945 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Heritage Financial by 45.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,972 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 927 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its stake in Heritage Financial by 519.0% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 3,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 2,979 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its stake in Heritage Financial by 475.6% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 3,989 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 3,296 shares during the period. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Heritage Financial in the fourth quarter worth $157,000. Institutional investors own 78.30% 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.