Insider Selling: Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) EVP Sells $111,129.20 in Stock

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) EVP Matthew Ray sold 3,692 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.10, for a total transaction of $111,129.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 22,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $684,323.50. The trade was a 13.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Heritage Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HFWA opened at $29.74 on Friday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $29.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.68. Heritage Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $21.32 and a fifty-two week high of $31.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.16 and a beta of 0.50.

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

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on HFWA. Stephens increased their price target on Heritage Financial from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen raised Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Zacks Research raised Heritage Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Heritage Financial from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Heritage Financial during the second quarter valued at approximately $172,125,000. Algebris UK Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $13,860,000. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of Heritage Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $11,210,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $11,817,000. Finally, Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. raised its holdings in Heritage Financial by 163.1% during the 4th quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 607,105 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,358,000 after buying an additional 376,368 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

About Heritage Financial

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.