Empowered Funds LLC Has $2.46 Million Stock Position in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 113,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,762 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Heritage Financial were worth $2,463,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Boston Partners raised its holdings in Heritage Financial by 70.5% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 112,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,180,000 after purchasing an additional 46,511 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Heritage Financial by 4.3% during the 2nd 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. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 601 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter worth about $951,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Heritage Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ HFWA opened at $25.59 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.83. Heritage Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $16.55 and a 52-week high of $27.55. 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 market cap of $874.00 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.69 and a beta of 0.52.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its quarterly 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). Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 12.27%. The firm had revenue of $81.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.17 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.51 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.65 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis 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 currently 85.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Heritage Financial news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 20,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $533,153.50. This represents a 12.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.68% of the company’s stock.

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.