Insider Selling: Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) Director Sells $300,000.00 in Stock

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) Director Jeffrey Lyon sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $300,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 40,719 shares in the company, valued at $1,221,570. This represents a 19.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Heritage Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HFWA opened at $29.50 on Friday. Heritage Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $21.32 and a fifty-two week high of $31.25. The company has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a PE ratio of 14.05 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.83. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.56.

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

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 5th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 5th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. This is a boost from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is presently 47.62%.

Institutional Trading of Heritage Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HFWA. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Heritage Financial during the second quarter valued at $172,125,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the second quarter worth about $1,323,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the second quarter worth about $95,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter worth about $11,817,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 12.2% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $193,000 after acquiring an additional 710 shares in the last quarter. 78.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on HFWA. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Heritage Financial from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 27th. DA Davidson raised their target price on Heritage Financial from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Heritage Financial from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Heritage Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.50.

Heritage Financial Company Profile

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) is a bank holding company headquartered in Spokane, Washington. Through its primary subsidiary, Heritage Bank, the company provides a comprehensive range of banking and financial services to both individual and commercial clients. Heritage Bank’s offerings encompass deposit products, lending solutions, treasury and cash management services, mortgage banking, and wealth management, positioning the organization as a full-service community bank.

The company’s lending portfolio includes commercial real estate loans, agricultural loans, small business administration (SBA) loans, construction and development financing, and a variety of consumer mortgage products.