Heritage Financial Corporation $HFWA Position Reduced by Invesco Ltd.

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. reduced its stake in Heritage Financial Corporation by 11% in the first quarter, now owning approximately $8 million worth of shares.
• Heritage Financial reported earnings per share of $0.53 for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $0.50, despite revenue falling short of estimates.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.24 per share, yielding 4.0% annually, with a payout ratio of 67.13%.

Invesco Ltd. lessened its stake in Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA - Free Report) by 11.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 328,781 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 40,648 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned about 0.96% of Heritage Financial worth $7,999,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 14.8% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,042 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 11,864 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $289,000 after purchasing an additional 567 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 45.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,972 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 927 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 29,901 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $733,000 after purchasing an additional 1,914 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 20,710 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $507,000 after acquiring an additional 1,917 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.30% of the company's stock.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:HFWA traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $24.44. 122,825 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 215,324. Heritage Financial Corporation has a twelve month low of $19.84 and a twelve month high of $27.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $829.81 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.09 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. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $23.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.58.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.03. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.34% and a net margin of 15.22%.The firm had revenue of $56.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $63.54 million. On average, analysts expect that Heritage Financial Corporation will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 6th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 6th. Heritage Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Heritage Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $27.67.

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.