Insider Selling: Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) EVP Sells $112,168.82 in Stock

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) EVP Kelli Ann Wilson sold 3,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 3,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,009.31. The trade was a 54.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Heritage Financial Price Performance

HFWA opened at $29.73 on Friday. Heritage Financial Corporation has a 1 year low of $21.32 and a 1 year high of $31.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $28.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.16 and a beta of 0.49.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $84.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.30 million. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 20.44%. Analysts forecast 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 issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. This is an increase from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 5th. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 45.71%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heritage Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HFWA. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in Heritage Financial by 2.9% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 18,381 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $478,000 after acquiring an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its holdings in Heritage Financial by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $195,000 after acquiring an additional 592 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 710 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in Heritage Financial by 4.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 20,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $488,000 after acquiring an additional 881 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 67,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,746,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. 78.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on HFWA shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. DA Davidson upped their target price on Heritage Financial from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock 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 report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Heritage Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Heritage Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.