Amy E. Curran Sells 858 Shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Stock

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Director Amy E. Curran sold 858 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.77, for a total transaction of $20,394.66. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 24,353 shares in the company, valued at $578,870.81. This trade represents a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Heritage Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ:HFWA opened at $23.67 on Thursday. Heritage Financial Co. has a one year low of $16.55 and a one year high of $27.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $804.57 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.09 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $24.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.01.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.06. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 13.64% and a return on equity of 7.17%. Research analysts expect that Heritage Financial Co. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. This is an increase from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 77.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 794.1% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 945 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 519.0% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 3,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 2,979 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 475.6% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 3,989 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $98,000 after acquiring an additional 3,296 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $157,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $166,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.30% 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.