Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $23.77, but opened at $23.01. Heritage Financial shares last traded at $23.93, with a volume of 38,063 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Heritage Financial Trading Down 0.8 %

The firm has a market cap of $802.53 million, a P/E ratio of 19.04 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.84. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $24.47 and a 200-day moving average of $24.01.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.06. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 13.64%. Equities research analysts forecast that Heritage Financial Co. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. This is a boost from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.07%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frederick B. Rivera sold 4,000 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.43, for a total transaction of $101,720.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,752.92. This trade represents a 50.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Donald Hinson sold 3,420 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.59, for a total value of $80,677.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 42,087 shares in the company, valued at approximately $992,832.33. This trade represents a 7.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 15,311 shares of company stock worth $369,193. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heritage Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HFWA. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 113,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,463,000 after acquiring an additional 5,762 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 71.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,741,058 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,903,000 after acquiring an additional 725,257 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC acquired a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the 3rd quarter worth $1,194,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the 3rd quarter worth $338,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 90.7% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 34,672 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $755,000 after acquiring an additional 16,489 shares during the last quarter. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.