Insider Selling: Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) CFO Sells 3,420 Shares of Stock

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) CFO Donald Hinson sold 3,420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.59, for a total transaction of $80,677.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,087 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $992,832.33. The trade was a 7.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Heritage Financial Stock Down 0.1 %

HFWA stock opened at $23.65 on Friday. Heritage Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $16.55 and a 52 week high of $27.58. The company has a market capitalization of $803.89 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.07 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $24.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.06. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 13.64% and a return on equity of 7.17%. On average, analysts forecast that Heritage Financial Co. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is 77.42%.

Institutional Trading of Heritage Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 123,283 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,684,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 794.1% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 945 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 29,901 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $733,000 after purchasing an additional 1,914 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 20,710 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $507,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH raised its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 49,841 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,221,000 after purchasing an additional 2,477 shares in the last quarter. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

About Heritage Financial

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.