WINTON GROUP Ltd Has $842,000 Holdings in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA)

WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its position in shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) by 211.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 34,361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 23,332 shares during the quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd’s holdings in Heritage Financial were worth $842,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Heritage Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $157,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $166,000. Zions Bancorporation N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $168,000. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the fourth quarter worth approximately $215,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Heritage Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $229,000. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jeffrey J. Deuel sold 7,033 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.66, for a total value of $166,400.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 70,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,677,635.96. This represents a 9.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Donald Hinson sold 3,420 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.59, for a total value of $80,677.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,087 shares in the company, valued at $992,832.33. This represents a 7.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 15,311 shares of company stock valued at $369,193. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Heritage Financial Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:HFWA opened at $24.14 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $24.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.10. The company has a market capitalization of $820.54 million, a PE ratio of 19.47 and a beta of 0.53. Heritage Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $16.55 and a 52 week high of $27.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.84.

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

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. This is a positive change from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.98%. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is currently 77.42%.

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.