Insider Selling: Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) Director Sells 1,800 Shares of Stock

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) Director Frederick Rivera sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.31, for a total transaction of $47,358.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,972 shares in the company, valued at $130,813.32. This represents a 26.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Heritage Financial Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of HFWA stock traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $26.52. 231,835 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 267,624. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a market cap of $900.54 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.53 and a beta of 0.52. Heritage Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $19.84 and a fifty-two week high of $28.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $24.83 and its 200-day moving average is $23.98.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $66.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.95 million. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 8.61% and a net margin of 20.10%. Analysts predict that Heritage Financial Corporation will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 28th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.98%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HFWA. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $195,000 after buying an additional 592 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in Heritage Financial by 4.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 20,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $488,000 after acquiring an additional 881 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Heritage Financial by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,171 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 891 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 35,891 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $868,000 after purchasing an additional 960 shares during the last quarter. 78.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on HFWA. Wall Street Zen upgraded Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 15th. Stephens lifted their target price on Heritage Financial from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. DA Davidson upped their target price on Heritage Financial from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Heritage Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Heritage Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.25.

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.