Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.05 EPS

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05, Zacks reports. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 20.44%.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

Shares of HFWA traded up $0.85 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $28.53. The stock had a trading volume of 8,974 shares, compared to its average volume of 325,471. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $28.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.33. Heritage Financial has a fifty-two week low of $21.32 and a fifty-two week high of $31.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.59 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Heritage Financial news, 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 40,719 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,221,570. This represents a 19.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Kelli Wilson sold 3,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.69, for a total transaction of $112,168.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 3,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,009.31. This trade represents a 54.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 22,004 shares of company stock valued at $657,200 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on HFWA. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Brean Capital upgraded shares of Heritage Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Heritage Financial in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.67.

Heritage Financial Company Profile

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: HFWA) is a bank holding company headquartered in Olympia, Washington. The company operates primarily through Heritage Bank, a community-focused financial institution serving businesses, individuals and organizations in Washington and Oregon.

Heritage Bank provides commercial and residential real estate lending, business and consumer loans, deposit accounts, cash-management and treasury services, online and mobile banking, and other traditional banking products.