Insider Selling: Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Director Sells 858 Shares of Stock

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Director Amy E. Curran sold 858 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.77, for a total value of $20,394.66. Following the transaction, the director now owns 24,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $578,870.81. This represents a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Heritage Financial Stock Down 0.8 %

HFWA traded down $0.19 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $23.61. The stock had a trading volume of 367,149 shares, compared to its average volume of 182,413. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $24.47 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. The company has a market capitalization of $802.53 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.04 and a beta of 0.53. Heritage Financial Co. has a one year low of $16.55 and a one year high of $27.58.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (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%. As a group, analysts expect that Heritage Financial Co. will post 2.09 earnings per share 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 a boost from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.42%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heritage Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HFWA. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 794.1% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 945 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 519.0% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 3,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 2,979 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 475.6% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 3,989 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $98,000 after acquiring an additional 3,296 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial in the fourth quarter worth $157,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the fourth quarter valued at $166,000. 78.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report 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.