Geode Capital Management LLC Acquires 1,076 Shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 0.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 809,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,076 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Heritage Financial were worth $17,634,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Heritage Financial by 105.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 73,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,595,000 after buying an additional 37,606 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 4.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 80,044 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 71.4% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,741,058 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,903,000 after buying an additional 725,257 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its position in Heritage Financial by 46.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 65,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,417,000 after buying an additional 20,792 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Heritage Financial by 43.7% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 601 shares during the period. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HFWA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.00.

Heritage Financial Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Heritage Financial stock opened at $24.31 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $25.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.27. Heritage Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $16.55 and a 52 week high of $27.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $830.28 million, a PE ratio of 22.51 and a beta of 0.55.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $81.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.17 million. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 7.01%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is 85.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Heritage Financial news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.50, for a total value of $78,837.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 SEC, which is available through this link. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.