Versor Investments LP Acquires New Position in Heritage Financial Corporation $HFWA

Key Points

• Versor Investments LP has purchased 38,000 shares of Heritage Financial Corporation, valued at approximately $925,000, increasing their stake to 0.11% of the company's total shares.
• Research analysts have downgraded Heritage Financial’s stock from a "hold" to a "sell" rating, with price objectives set between $26.00 and $31.00.
• Heritage Financial recently reported quarterly earnings of $0.53 per share, beating estimates, and announced a dividend of $0.24 per share, yielding 4.1% annually.

Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 38,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $925,000. Versor Investments LP owned approximately 0.11% of Heritage Financial as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 45.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 147,887 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,623,000 after buying an additional 46,260 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 193,820 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,716,000 after buying an additional 4,101 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 60.1% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 29,871 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $732,000 after buying an additional 11,210 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the 1st quarter worth $844,000. Finally, Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the 1st quarter worth $1,505,000. 78.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on HFWA. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Heritage Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Heritage Financial presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $27.67.

Heritage Financial Trading Up 5.8%

Shares of Heritage Financial stock traded up $1.33 during trading on Friday, hitting $24.40. The stock had a trading volume of 235,154 shares, compared to its average volume of 157,183. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $23.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.57. The stock has a market cap of $828.38 million, a PE ratio of 17.06 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Heritage Financial Corporation has a 12 month low of $19.84 and a 12 month high of $27.58.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $56.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.54 million. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 15.22% and a return on equity of 7.34%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Heritage Financial Corporation will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 6th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 6th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Heritage Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.13%.

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.