Frederick Rivera Sells 1,300 Shares of Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) Stock

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) Director Frederick Rivera sold 1,300 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.57, for a total transaction of $37,141.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,890 shares in the company, valued at $168,277.30. This represents a 18.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:HFWA opened at $28.01 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a PE ratio of 13.34 and a beta of 0.48. Heritage Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $21.32 and a fifty-two week high of $31.25. The company has a fifty day moving average of $29.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.94.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $84.12 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.30 million. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 8.78%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Heritage Financial Corporation will post 2.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 5th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 5th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.62%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $172,125,000. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Heritage Financial by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,213,473 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $83,550,000 after buying an additional 106,308 shares in the last quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at $20,408,000. Algebris UK Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter worth $13,860,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter worth $11,817,000. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research upgraded Heritage Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Heritage Financial in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Heritage Financial from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Stephens raised their price objective on Heritage Financial from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Heritage Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.50.

About Heritage Financial

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: HFWA) is a bank holding company headquartered in Olympia, Washington. Through its principal subsidiary, Heritage Bank, the company provides a range of banking and financial services to businesses, individuals, and organizations in communities across Washington and Oregon.

Heritage Bank’s offerings include commercial and industrial lending, commercial real estate and construction loans, residential real estate financing, consumer loans, deposit accounts, cash-management services, online and mobile banking, and other treasury-management solutions.