Insider Selling: Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) EVP Sells 2,975 Shares of Stock

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.50, for a total value of $78,837.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $533,153.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Heritage Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ:HFWA opened at $26.26 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.42. Heritage Financial Co. has a 1-year low of $16.38 and a 1-year high of $27.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $905.97 million, a PE ratio of 24.32 and a beta of 0.52.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $81.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.17 million. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 12.27%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.51 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 85.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on HFWA shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Heritage Financial by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,852 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,884,000 after acquiring an additional 80,044 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 71.4% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,741,058 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,903,000 after purchasing an additional 725,257 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 321,089 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,789,000 after buying an additional 17,100 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 278,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,013,000 after buying an additional 8,112 shares during the period. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC grew its stake in Heritage Financial by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 220,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,978,000 after buying an additional 11,318 shares during the last quarter. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.