Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) Stock Passes Above 200-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) shares crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $25.99 and traded as high as $28.18. Heritage Financial shares last traded at $27.91, with a volume of 194,004 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HFWA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised Heritage Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Zacks Research lowered Heritage Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Heritage Financial from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Heritage Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.50.

Heritage Financial Trading Up 0.5%

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.68 and a beta of 0.49.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 8.71% and a net margin of 20.50%.The firm had revenue of $77.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.31 million. On average, equities analysts predict that Heritage Financial Corporation will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 6th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 6th. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.06%.

Institutional Trading of Heritage Financial

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its stake in Heritage Financial by 71.4% in the 4th quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 120,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,859,000 after buying an additional 50,353 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Heritage Financial by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,626,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $63,531,000 after buying an additional 220,273 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Heritage Financial by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,412,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $57,051,000 after buying an additional 45,422 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,107,165 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $73,484,000 after purchasing an additional 27,143 shares during the period. Finally, Algebris UK Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Algebris UK Ltd. now owns 520,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,320,000 after purchasing an additional 74,926 shares during the period. 78.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Heritage Financial Company Profile

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.