Amundi Has $402,000 Stake in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

Amundi increased its position in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 199.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,281 shares during the period. Amundi’s holdings in Heritage Financial were worth $402,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $215,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $229,000. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $274,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $280,000. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at $307,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Donald Hinson sold 3,420 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.59, for a total transaction of $80,677.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,087 shares in the company, valued at approximately $992,832.33. The trade was a 7.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey J. Deuel sold 7,033 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.66, for a total transaction of $166,400.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 70,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,677,635.96. This trade represents a 9.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,311 shares of company stock worth $369,193 in the last quarter. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

Shares of HFWA opened at $23.65 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $803.89 million, a PE ratio of 19.07 and a beta of 0.53. Heritage Financial Co. has a one year low of $16.55 and a one year high of $27.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $24.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.01.

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

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. This is an increase from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.