Martin & Co. Inc. TN Sells 5,648 Shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

Martin & Co. Inc. TN cut its position in shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 130,846 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,648 shares during the period. Martin & Co. Inc. TN’s holdings in Heritage Financial were worth $3,206,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Heritage Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $234,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Heritage Financial by 17.1% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Heritage Financial by 11.3% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 21,154 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $452,000 after purchasing an additional 2,154 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Heritage Financial by 9.4% in the third quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Heritage Financial by 5.4% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 113,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,463,000 after purchasing an additional 5,762 shares in the last quarter. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Frederick B. Rivera sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.43, for a total transaction of $101,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,752.92. This represents a 50.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HFWA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens boosted their price objective 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. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

Heritage Financial Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of Heritage Financial stock opened at $24.25 on Monday. Heritage Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $16.55 and a 1 year high of $27.58. The business has a 50-day moving average of $24.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.67. The company has a market capitalization of $828.14 million, a P/E ratio of 19.56 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.06. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 13.64%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Heritage Financial Co. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. This is an increase from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.96%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.42%.

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.