Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) CFO Donald Hinson Sells 3,842 Shares of Stock

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) CFO Donald Hinson sold 3,842 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.37, for a total transaction of $108,997.54. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 41,241 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,170,007.17. The trade was a 8.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Heritage Financial Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of Heritage Financial stock opened at $28.72 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Heritage Financial Corporation has a 1 year low of $21.32 and a 1 year high of $28.98. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $27.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.08. The stock has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.08 and a beta of 0.49.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 20.50% and a return on equity of 8.71%. The company had revenue of $77.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.31 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Heritage Financial Corporation will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 6th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 6th. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.06%.

Institutional Trading of Heritage Financial

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 316.9% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,651 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 1,255 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 27,871.4% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 99.1% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 1,431 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 20.8% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC increased 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 valued at $195,000 after acquiring an additional 592 shares in the last quarter. 78.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Heritage Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Heritage Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Heritage Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.50.

About Heritage Financial

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.