Heritage Financial Corporation Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.24 (NASDAQ:HFWA)

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 24th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 6th.

Heritage Financial has a payout ratio of 42.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Heritage Financial to earn $2.28 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 42.1%.

Heritage Financial Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ HFWA traded up $0.05 on Monday, hitting $23.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 194,526 shares, compared to its average volume of 225,857. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Heritage Financial has a 1-year low of $19.84 and a 1-year high of $27.58. The company's 50-day moving average is $23.95 and its 200 day moving average is $23.83. The firm has a market cap of $801.24 million, a PE ratio of 16.43 and a beta of 0.54.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heritage Financial

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of HFWA. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 20,060 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $488,000 after purchasing an additional 881 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 7.4% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 78,130 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,901,000 after purchasing an additional 5,417 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 437.3% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 107,482 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,615,000 after purchasing an additional 87,479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 4.2% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 123,798 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,012,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on HFWA. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Heritage Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th.

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.