Insider Selling: Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) CFO Sells 3,420 Shares of Stock

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA - Get Free Report) CFO Donald Hinson sold 3,420 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 42,087 shares of the company's stock, valued at $992,832.33. This trade represents a 7.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Heritage Financial Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of HFWA traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $23.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,465,100 shares, compared to its average volume of 191,471. The business has a fifty day moving average of $24.48 and a 200 day moving average of $24.01. The company has a market cap of $808.31 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.18 and a beta of 0.53. Heritage Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $16.55 and a 1 year 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.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.06. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 13.64% and a return on equity of 7.17%. As a group, analysts forecast that Heritage Financial Co. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. This is an increase 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 4.04%. Heritage Financial's dividend payout ratio is 77.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heritage Financial

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 105.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 73,300 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,595,000 after acquiring an additional 37,606 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Heritage Financial during the fourth quarter worth $280,000. Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in Heritage Financial by 46.9% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 65,088 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,417,000 after buying an additional 20,792 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new position in Heritage Financial during the fourth quarter worth $274,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in 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 buying an additional 725,257 shares during the last quarter. 78.30% of the stock is 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.