Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $23.94 and last traded at $23.91, with a volume of 321301 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $23.23.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Heritage Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.00.

Heritage Financial Stock Up 2.9 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $824.90 million, a P/E ratio of 21.51 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $22.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.22.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.09). Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 12.27%. The company had revenue of $81.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.17 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 6th. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.19%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Heritage Financial by 133.7% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 786 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Heritage Financial in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Heritage Financial in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Heritage Financial Company 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.