Jennison Associates LLC Raises Position in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 71.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,741,058 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 725,257 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC owned 5.05% of Heritage Financial worth $37,903,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of HFWA. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Heritage Financial by 133.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 786 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Heritage Financial in the second quarter worth $25,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the second quarter worth $27,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the second quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. 78.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.50, for a total value of $78,837.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $533,153.50. This trade represents a 12.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price objective on Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.00.

Heritage Financial Stock Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ HFWA opened at $25.79 on Friday. Heritage Financial Co. has a 12 month low of $16.55 and a 12 month high of $27.55. The company has a market capitalization of $880.73 million, a P/E ratio of 23.88 and a beta of 0.52. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $81.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.17 million. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 7.01%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.57%. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is 85.19%.

Heritage Financial Company 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.