Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) Rating Increased to Buy at Brean Capital

Key Points

• Brean Capital upgraded Heritage Financial to “buy” from “neutral” and set a $33 price target, implying 17.86% upside from the reported share price.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive, with four buy ratings and three holds producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average target price of $32.60.
• Heritage Financial reported quarterly EPS of $0.57, beating estimates of $0.44, while institutional investors own 78.30% of the stock; company insiders sold 22,004 shares over the prior 90 days.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Brean Capital from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $33.00 price target on the financial services provider's stock. Brean Capital's price target points to a potential upside of 17.86% from the stock's current price.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Stephens lifted their target price on Heritage Financial from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Heritage Financial in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Heritage Financial from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $32.60.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

Shares of HFWA opened at $28.00 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a PE ratio of 13.33 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $29.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.98. Heritage Financial has a 52-week low of $21.32 and a 52-week high of $31.25.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.13. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 20.44%.The firm had revenue of $84.12 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.30 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Heritage Financial will post 2.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heritage Financial

In related news, Director Jeffrey Lyon sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total transaction of $300,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 40,719 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,221,570. The trade was a 19.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kelli Wilson sold 3,778 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.69, for a total value of $112,168.82. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,099 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $92,009.31. This represents a 54.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 22,004 shares of company stock valued at $657,200 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.49% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Heritage Financial

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HFWA. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $172,125,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 3.4% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,213,473 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $83,550,000 after acquiring an additional 106,308 shares during the last quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the second quarter worth $20,408,000. Algebris UK Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the second quarter worth $13,860,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Heritage Financial during the second quarter valued at $11,817,000. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Heritage Financial Company Profile

Heritage Financial Corporation NASDAQ: HFWA is a bank holding company headquartered in Olympia, Washington. Through its principal subsidiary, Heritage Bank, the company provides a range of banking and financial services to businesses, individuals, and organizations in communities across Washington and Oregon.

Heritage Bank's offerings include commercial and industrial lending, commercial real estate and construction loans, residential real estate financing, consumer loans, deposit accounts, cash-management services, online and mobile banking, and other treasury-management solutions.

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