Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) CFO Donald Hinson Sells 3,420 Shares

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) CFO Donald Hinson sold 3,420 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.59, for a total transaction of $80,677.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,087 shares in the company, valued at approximately $992,832.33. This trade represents a 7.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Heritage Financial Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of HFWA opened at $23.61 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $24.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.01. 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 stock has a market cap of $802.53 million, a PE ratio of 19.04 and a beta of 0.53. Heritage Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $16.55 and a 52-week high of $27.58.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 13.64% and a return on equity of 7.17%. Research analysts forecast that Heritage Financial Co. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. This is a boost from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.07%. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is presently 77.42%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note 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.