Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Short Interest Up 12.8% in January

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 467,800 shares, an increase of 12.8% from the December 31st total of 414,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 178,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Activity

In other Heritage Financial news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $533,153.50. The trade was a 12.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Frederick B. Rivera sold 4,000 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.43, for a total transaction of $101,720.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,752.92. This represents a 50.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Heritage Financial

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ieq Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $274,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 189,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,648,000 after buying an additional 5,751 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 118,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,912,000 after buying an additional 5,723 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 24,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $607,000 after buying an additional 3,814 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,206,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,066,000 after buying an additional 465,708 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HFWA traded down $0.59 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $25.11. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 190,690 shares, compared to its average volume of 187,890. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $25.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.50. Heritage Financial has a one year low of $16.55 and a one year high of $27.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $857.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.25 and a beta of 0.56.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts forecast that Heritage Financial will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is a positive change 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 (DPR) is currently 74.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HFWA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Stephens upped 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. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th.

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.