Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.06 EPS

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.06, Zacks reports. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 7.01%.

Heritage Financial Trading Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ:HFWA opened at $24.65 on Friday. Heritage Financial has a 1 year low of $16.55 and a 1 year high of $27.58. The stock has a market cap of $841.80 million, a P/E ratio of 22.82 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.20.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.89%. This is an increase from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 6th. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is 85.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stephens increased their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Heritage Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.00.

Insider Transactions at Heritage Financial

In related news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $533,153.50. This trade represents a 12.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Heritage Financial Company Profile

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.