Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) Director Jeffrey Lyon Sells 10,000 Shares of Stock

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) Director Jeffrey Lyon sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $300,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 40,719 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,221,570. This represents a 19.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Heritage Financial Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of Heritage Financial stock opened at $30.01 on Thursday. Heritage Financial Corporation has a 52-week low of $21.32 and a 52-week high of $31.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a PE ratio of 14.29 and a beta of 0.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $29.12 and a 200-day moving average of $27.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $84.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.30 million. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 20.44%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Heritage Financial Corporation will post 2.37 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 5th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This is a positive change from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 5th. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is presently 47.62%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Heritage Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 27,871.4% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 99.1% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 1,431 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 12.2% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $193,000 after purchasing an additional 710 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Heritage Financial by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $195,000 after purchasing an additional 592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Heritage Financial by 117.1% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,457 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 4,561 shares in the last quarter. 78.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on HFWA shares. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Heritage Financial from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Heritage Financial in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Heritage Financial from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.50.

Heritage Financial Company Profile

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) is a bank holding company headquartered in Spokane, Washington. Through its primary subsidiary, Heritage Bank, the company provides a comprehensive range of banking and financial services to both individual and commercial clients. Heritage Bank’s offerings encompass deposit products, lending solutions, treasury and cash management services, mortgage banking, and wealth management, positioning the organization as a full-service community bank.

The company’s lending portfolio includes commercial real estate loans, agricultural loans, small business administration (SBA) loans, construction and development financing, and a variety of consumer mortgage products.