Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Shares Sold by Lord Abbett & CO. LLC

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC decreased its position in shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 320,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,225 shares during the quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s holdings in Heritage Financial were worth $6,972,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake 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 valued at $34,884,000 after acquiring an additional 80,044 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 71.4% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,741,058 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,903,000 after purchasing an additional 725,257 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Heritage Financial by 43.7% during 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. Nwam LLC purchased a new stake in Heritage Financial in the third quarter valued at $1,194,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Heritage Financial in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $533,153.50. This represents a 12.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Heritage Financial Stock Up 1.2 %

HFWA opened at $26.48 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $24.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. Heritage Financial Co. has a fifty-two week low of $16.55 and a fifty-two week high of $27.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $904.40 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.52 and a beta of 0.55.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $58.17 million. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 7.01%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is 85.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on HFWA shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Stephens lifted their price target on Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.