Penn Capital Management Company LLC Takes $631,000 Position in Heritage Financial Corporation $HFWA

Key Points

• Penn Capital Management Company LLC acquired a new stake in Heritage Financial Corporation, purchasing 25,948 shares worth approximately $631,000 during the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors have also increased their positions in Heritage Financial, with 78.30% of the stock now owned by these investors.
• Wall Street analysts have recently lowered their price targets for Heritage Financial, with the current average target price set at $27.67 and a prevailing rating of "Hold."

Penn Capital Management Company LLC bought a new stake in Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 25,948 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $631,000. Penn Capital Management Company LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Heritage Financial as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 14.8% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,042 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 520 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 5.0% in the first quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 11,864 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $289,000 after buying an additional 567 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 45.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,972 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 927 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 794.1% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,064 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 945 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 29,901 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $733,000 after buying an additional 1,914 shares in the last quarter. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Heritage Financial Price Performance

Shares of HFWA stock opened at $24.40 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $828.38 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.06 and a beta of 0.57. Heritage Financial Corporation has a 12 month low of $19.84 and a 12 month high of $27.58. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $23.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA - Get Free Report) last posted 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 company had revenue of $56.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.54 million. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.34% and a net margin of 15.22%. Research analysts expect that Heritage Financial Corporation will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

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

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.

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