Insider Selling: Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Director Sells 4,000 Shares of Stock

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Director Frederick B. Rivera sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.43, for a total value of $101,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,844 shares in the company, valued at $97,752.92. This trade represents a 50.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

Shares of HFWA stock opened at $25.48 on Thursday. 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 50 day moving average price of $25.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.38. Heritage Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $16.55 and a 52 week high of $27.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $870.14 million, a PE ratio of 23.59 and a beta of 0.57.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. This is a boost from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 6th. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler upped 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 raised their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heritage Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 118,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,912,000 after buying an additional 5,723 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 24,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $607,000 after acquiring an additional 3,814 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 26.7% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,206,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,066,000 after acquiring an additional 465,708 shares during the period. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial in the 4th quarter worth $215,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Heritage Financial by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 123,283 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,684,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

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.