Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) EVP Matthew Ray Sells 3,692 Shares

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) EVP Matthew Ray sold 3,692 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.10, for a total transaction of $111,129.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 22,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $684,323.50. This trade represents a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Heritage Financial Price Performance

Shares of HFWA opened at $29.98 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 market cap of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 14.28 and a beta of 0.50. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

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

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 5th. This is a positive change from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.62%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heritage Financial

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Heritage Financial by 27,871.4% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,951 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in Heritage Financial by 99.1% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 1,431 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $95,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 710 shares during the last quarter. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on HFWA shares. Stephens raised 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Heritage Financial in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Zacks Research raised Heritage Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Heritage Financial from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.50.

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.