Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Sells 6,225 Shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC cut its stake in shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 320,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,225 shares during the quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned approximately 0.94% of Heritage Financial worth $6,972,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of HFWA. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Heritage Financial by 105.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 73,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,595,000 after purchasing an additional 37,606 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 73.8% during the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 35,933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $782,000 after buying an additional 15,259 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 46.9% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 65,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,417,000 after buying an additional 20,792 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,594,963 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,722,000 after acquiring an additional 4,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Heritage Financial in the third quarter worth about $307,000. Institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Heritage Financial news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.50, for a total transaction of $78,837.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $533,153.50. The trade was a 12.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Heritage Financial stock opened at $26.48 on Tuesday. Heritage Financial Co. has a one year low of $16.55 and a one year high of $27.58. The company has a market capitalization of $904.40 million, a PE ratio of 24.52 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.86.

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

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is 85.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.00.

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.