Aspire Capital Advisors LLC Purchases New Holdings in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

Aspire Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 8,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of HFWA. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 4.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,852 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,884,000 after acquiring an additional 80,044 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Heritage Financial by 71.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,741,058 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,903,000 after purchasing an additional 725,257 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Heritage Financial by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,594,963 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,722,000 after purchasing an additional 4,012 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 123,283 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,684,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 113,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,463,000 after buying an additional 5,762 shares during the period. 78.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Stephens lifted their price objective on Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HFWA opened at $25.37 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $866.35 million, a PE ratio of 23.58 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.33. Heritage Financial Co. has a 12 month low of $16.55 and a 12 month high of $27.58.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.06. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 12.27%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This is an increase from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.19%.

Insider Transactions at Heritage Financial

In related news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.50, for a total transaction of $78,837.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,119 shares in the company, valued at $533,153.50. This trade represents a 12.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frederick B. Rivera sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.43, for a total transaction of $101,720.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,844 shares in the company, valued at $97,752.92. This trade represents a 50.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

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.