Donald Hinson Sells 3,420 Shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) 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 value of $80,677.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 42,087 shares in the company, valued at approximately $992,832.33. The trade was a 7.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Heritage Financial Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of HFWA opened at $23.67 on Thursday. Heritage Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $16.55 and a 52 week high of $27.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market capitalization of $804.57 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.09 and a beta of 0.53. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $24.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.01.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last issued its 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 return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 13.64%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Heritage Financial Co. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This is an increase from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Institutional Trading of Heritage Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its holdings in Heritage Financial by 519.0% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 3,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 2,979 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its holdings in Heritage Financial by 475.6% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 3,989 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 3,296 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Heritage Financial in the 4th quarter worth about $157,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Heritage Financial in the 4th quarter worth about $166,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

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.