Piper Sandler Raises Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) Price Target to $28.00

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) had its price objective lifted by Piper Sandler from $27.00 to $28.00 in a research note released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Separately, 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.00.

Heritage Financial Trading Down 0.5 %

HFWA opened at $22.99 on Monday. Heritage Financial has a 1-year low of $15.94 and a 1-year high of $23.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $793.06 million, a PE ratio of 21.29 and a beta of 0.53. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $22.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.08.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last issued 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). The company had revenue of $81.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.17 million. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 14.59% and a return on equity of 7.95%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Heritage Financial will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.00%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.19%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heritage Financial

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new position in shares of Heritage Financial during the 1st quarter worth about $14,612,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in Heritage Financial by 212.4% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 206,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,009,000 after acquiring an additional 140,592 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Heritage Financial by 4.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,852 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,884,000 after purchasing an additional 80,044 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in Heritage Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,602,000. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Heritage Financial in the second quarter worth $951,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

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.