Royce & Associates LP Has $5.52 Million Stake in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

Royce & Associates LP trimmed its stake in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 16.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 225,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 45,048 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned 0.66% of Heritage Financial worth $5,515,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in HFWA. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Heritage Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $215,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the fourth quarter worth $229,000. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Heritage Financial during the fourth quarter valued at $274,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Heritage Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $280,000. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Heritage Financial in the third quarter valued at about $307,000. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Heritage Financial Stock Up 0.3 %

HFWA stock opened at $23.67 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $804.57 million, a PE ratio of 19.09 and a beta of 0.53. Heritage Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $16.55 and a 1 year high of $27.58. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.06. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 13.64%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Heritage Financial Co. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. This is an increase from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Frederick B. Rivera sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,844 shares in the company, valued at $97,752.92. The trade was a 50.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Donald Hinson sold 3,420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.59, for a total transaction of $80,677.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 42,087 shares in the company, valued at approximately $992,832.33. The trade was a 7.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,311 shares of company stock valued at $369,193 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th.

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.