Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.24 Per Share

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 24th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 6th. This is a positive change from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23.

Heritage Financial has increased its dividend by an average of 4.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. Heritage Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 41.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Heritage Financial to earn $1.92 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.9%.

Heritage Financial Price Performance

HFWA traded down $0.20 during trading on Friday, reaching $24.65. 238,293 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 160,656. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a market cap of $841.80 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.82 and a beta of 0.57. Heritage Financial has a 12-month low of $16.55 and a 12-month high of $27.58. The company’s 50-day moving average is $25.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.15.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.06. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 7.01%. Research analysts forecast that Heritage Financial will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 20,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $533,153.50. The trade was a 12.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on HFWA shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price target 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. Stephens increased their target price on Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock 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.