Empowered Funds LLC Acquires 5,762 Shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 113,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,762 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC owned approximately 0.33% of Heritage Financial worth $2,463,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HFWA. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 70.5% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 112,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,180,000 after purchasing an additional 46,511 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 4.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,852 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,884,000 after purchasing an additional 80,044 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 43.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $951,000. Institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heritage Financial

In other news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.50, for a total value of $78,837.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $533,153.50. The trade was a 12.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.68% of the company’s stock.

Heritage Financial Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of HFWA stock opened at $25.59 on Wednesday. Heritage Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $16.55 and a 1 year high of $27.55. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $874.00 million, a P/E ratio of 23.69 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.09). The business 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 period last year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 6th. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on HFWA. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.00.

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.