Insider Selling: Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) EVP Sells $78,837.50 in Stock

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.50, for a total value of $78,837.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 20,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $533,153.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

Shares of HFWA stock opened at $26.26 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $905.97 million, a PE ratio of 24.32 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $22.29 and a 200-day moving average of $20.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Heritage Financial Co. has a one year low of $16.38 and a one year high of $27.43.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $81.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.17 million. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 7.01%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.51 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 6th. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is presently 85.19%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HFWA. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 71.4% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,741,058 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,903,000 after purchasing an additional 725,257 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Heritage Financial by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 113,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,463,000 after buying an additional 5,762 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in Heritage Financial by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Heritage Financial by 11.3% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 21,154 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $452,000 after buying an additional 2,154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 17.1% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 481 shares during the period. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on HFWA shares. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.00.

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.