Jennison Associates LLC Purchases 106,308 Shares of Heritage Financial Corporation $HFWA

Key Points

• Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Heritage Financial by 3.4% in Q1, buying 106,308 shares and bringing its total holding to 3.21 million shares, worth about $83.6 million.
• Analysts remain mixed on HFWA: the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus rating with an average target price of $30.50, though Piper Sandler trimmed its target to $32 and some firms recently downgraded their views.
• Heritage Financial reported Q1 earnings of $0.59 per share, beating estimates, and recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.24 per share, implying an annualized yield of about 3.1%.

Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA - Free Report) by 3.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,213,473 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 106,308 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC owned approximately 7.81% of Heritage Financial worth $83,550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 27,871.4% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,958 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 1,951 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in Heritage Financial by 99.1% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,875 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 1,431 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,171 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 891 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,249 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $195,000 after acquiring an additional 592 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 117.1% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,457 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $205,000 after purchasing an additional 4,561 shares during the period. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Heritage Financial from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research raised Heritage Financial from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Heritage Financial in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Heritage Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $30.50.

Heritage Financial Price Performance

Shares of HFWA stock opened at $30.52 on Monday. Heritage Financial Corporation has a 12-month low of $21.32 and a 12-month high of $31.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $28.28 and a 200-day moving average of $26.97. The company has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.96 and a beta of 0.49.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $77.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $80.31 million. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 20.50% and a return on equity of 8.71%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Heritage Financial Corporation will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 6th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 6th. Heritage Financial's payout ratio is 47.06%.

Insider Activity at Heritage Financial

In other news, CFO Donald Hinson sold 3,842 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.37, for a total transaction of $108,997.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 41,241 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,170,007.17. This represents a 8.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Heritage Financial

Heritage Financial Corporation NASDAQ: HFWA is a bank holding company headquartered in Spokane, Washington. Through its primary subsidiary, Heritage Bank, the company provides a comprehensive range of banking and financial services to both individual and commercial clients. Heritage Bank's offerings encompass deposit products, lending solutions, treasury and cash management services, mortgage banking, and wealth management, positioning the organization as a full-service community bank.

The company's lending portfolio includes commercial real estate loans, agricultural loans, small business administration (SBA) loans, construction and development financing, and a variety of consumer mortgage products.

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