Jennison Associates LLC Has $54.07 Million Stock Position in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 26.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,206,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 465,708 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 0.06% of Heritage Financial worth $54,066,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of HFWA. State Street Corp raised its position in Heritage Financial by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,594,963 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,722,000 after purchasing an additional 4,012 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 0.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 123,283 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,684,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 5.4% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 113,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,463,000 after acquiring an additional 5,762 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 105.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 73,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,595,000 after acquiring an additional 37,606 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in Heritage Financial by 46.9% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 65,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,417,000 after acquiring an additional 20,792 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on HFWA. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

Shares of HFWA stock opened at $25.11 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $25.04 and a 200-day moving average of $23.50. The company has a market cap of $857.61 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.25 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Heritage Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $16.55 and a 52 week high of $27.58.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Heritage Financial Co. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. 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 yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 6th. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 77.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heritage Financial

In other news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of Heritage Financial 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 directly owns 20,119 shares in the company, valued at $533,153.50. This trade represents a 12.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frederick B. Rivera sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.43, for a total transaction of $101,720.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,752.92. The trade was a 50.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.80% 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.