Public Sector Pension Investment Board Boosts Stake in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 5.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 76,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,877 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned about 0.22% of Heritage Financial worth $1,376,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of HFWA. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Heritage Financial by 133.7% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 786 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Heritage Financial by 72.6% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,394 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 1,428 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Heritage Financial by 5.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 29,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $578,000 after purchasing an additional 1,471 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Heritage Financial during the second quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Heritage Financial during the second quarter worth $31,000. 78.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Heritage Financial Trading Down 4.6 %

HFWA opened at $20.77 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $21.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Heritage Financial Co. has a 12 month low of $15.50 and a 12 month high of $23.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $720.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.62 and a beta of 0.53.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $56.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.27 million. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.95% and a net margin of 14.59%. Sell-side analysts expect that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th were issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 7th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.43%. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is 69.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on HFWA. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Heritage Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Heritage Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.50.

About Heritage Financial

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.