Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) Director Frederick Rivera Sells 1,300 Shares

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) Director Frederick Rivera sold 1,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.57, for a total transaction of $37,141.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,890 shares in the company, valued at approximately $168,277.30. This represents a 18.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Heritage Financial Stock Up 0.1%

Heritage Financial stock traded up $0.03 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $28.57. 209,273 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 321,289. The company’s 50-day moving average is $29.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83. Heritage Financial Corporation has a 52-week low of $21.32 and a 52-week high of $31.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.61 and a beta of 0.48.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.13. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 20.44%.The company had revenue of $84.12 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.30 million. On average, analysts predict that Heritage Financial Corporation will post 2.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 5th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. This is an increase from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 5th. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is 47.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on HFWA. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Heritage Financial from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Heritage Financial in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Heritage Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Heritage Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heritage Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HFWA. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the second quarter worth approximately $172,125,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Heritage Financial by 3.4% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,213,473 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $83,550,000 after acquiring an additional 106,308 shares in the last quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new position in Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $20,408,000. Algebris UK Ltd. acquired a new position in Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $13,860,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $11,817,000. 78.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Heritage Financial Company Profile

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: HFWA) is a bank holding company headquartered in Olympia, Washington. Through its principal subsidiary, Heritage Bank, the company provides a range of banking and financial services to businesses, individuals, and organizations in communities across Washington and Oregon.

Heritage Bank’s offerings include commercial and industrial lending, commercial real estate and construction loans, residential real estate financing, consumer loans, deposit accounts, cash-management services, online and mobile banking, and other treasury-management solutions.