Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) Price Target Raised to $26.00

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) had its target price hoisted by Stephens from $24.00 to $26.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on HFWA. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.00.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

Shares of HFWA stock opened at $22.99 on Tuesday. Heritage Financial has a one year low of $15.94 and a one year high of $23.82. The company has a market cap of $793.16 million, a P/E ratio of 21.29 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $22.00 and a 200-day moving average of $20.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.09). Heritage Financial had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 7.01%. The firm had revenue of $81.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.17 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.51 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Heritage Financial will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.00%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.19%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heritage Financial

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 786 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

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.