Frederick B. Rivera Sells 4,000 Shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Stock

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Director Frederick B. Rivera sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.43, for a total transaction of $101,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,844 shares in the company, valued at $97,752.92. The trade was a 50.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ HFWA opened at $25.25 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $25.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $862.29 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.38 and a beta of 0.57. Heritage Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $16.55 and a 52-week high of $27.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.06. Heritage Financial had a net margin of 12.27% and a return on equity of 7.01%. Equities research analysts forecast that Heritage Financial Co. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.80%. This is an increase from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 6th. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.19%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heritage Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Heritage Financial by 43.7% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Heritage Financial by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Heritage Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at about $99,000. 78.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th.

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.