Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Director Amy E. Curran Sells 858 Shares

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Director Amy E. Curran sold 858 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.77, for a total transaction of $20,394.66. Following the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Heritage Financial Stock Down 0.8 %

HFWA stock opened at $23.61 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $802.53 million, a P/E ratio of 19.04 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.84. Heritage Financial Co. has a one year low of $16.55 and a one year high of $27.58. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $24.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.01.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last released its 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, sell-side analysts expect that Heritage Financial Co. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This is a boost from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. Heritage Financial’s payout ratio is presently 77.42%.

Institutional Trading of Heritage Financial

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $547,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 475.6% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 3,989 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 3,296 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 41.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 72,713 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,781,000 after buying an additional 21,375 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 519.0% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 3,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 2,979 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 81.6% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 7,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $194,000 after buying an additional 3,549 shares during the period. 78.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.