Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Short Interest Update

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) saw a large decline in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 517,000 shares, a decline of 9.3% from the August 15th total of 569,900 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 206,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Heritage Financial Stock Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:HFWA opened at $22.07 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $765.61 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.43 and a beta of 0.53. Heritage Financial has a 1-year low of $15.50 and a 1-year high of $23.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $21.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.36.

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

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th were issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 7th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.17%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heritage Financial

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Heritage Financial by 133.7% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 786 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on HFWA shares. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Heritage Financial from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Heritage Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently 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.