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

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA - Get Free Report) Director Amy E. Curran sold 858 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.77, for a total transaction of $20,394.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 24,353 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $578,870.81. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Heritage Financial Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of HFWA stock traded up $0.13 during trading on Friday, hitting $23.78. 2,465,100 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 191,471. 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 market capitalization of $808.31 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.18 and a beta of 0.53. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $24.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.01. Heritage Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $16.55 and a twelve month high of $27.58.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Heritage Financial Co. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. This is a positive change from Heritage Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Heritage Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heritage Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HFWA. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in Heritage Financial by 5.4% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised 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 valued at $37,903,000 after acquiring an additional 725,257 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC bought a new position in Heritage Financial during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,194,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in Heritage Financial during the third quarter valued at approximately $338,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in Heritage Financial by 90.7% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 34,672 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $755,000 after acquiring an additional 16,489 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.30% of the company's stock.

Heritage Financial Company Profile

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.