Short Interest in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Expands By 7.2%

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 414,900 shares, an increase of 7.2% from the November 30th total of 386,900 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 176,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Currently, 1.2% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Activity at Heritage Financial

In other Heritage Financial news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $533,153.50. This represents a 12.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Heritage Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HFWA. Great Lakes Advisors LLC grew its position in Heritage Financial by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 220,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,978,000 after purchasing an additional 11,318 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $325,000. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 60.0% during the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 48,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $881,000 after acquiring an additional 18,325 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Heritage Financial by 3.0% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 278,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,013,000 after acquiring an additional 8,112 shares during the period. Finally, Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in Heritage Financial in the second quarter worth $557,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Heritage Financial Trading Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ:HFWA opened at $24.50 on Thursday. 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 has a one year low of $16.55 and a one year high of $27.58. The company has a market cap of $836.68 million, a PE ratio of 22.69 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $25.25 and a 200-day moving average of $22.42.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 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 the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Heritage Financial will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders 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 3.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 85.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HFWA has been the subject of a number of research reports. 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. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Heritage Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.00.

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.