Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Shares of Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $23.77, but opened at $23.01. Heritage Financial shares last traded at $23.93, with a volume of 38,063 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Heritage Financial Trading Down 0.6 %

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $24.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.00. The company has a market capitalization of $802.97 million, a PE ratio of 19.06 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 (NASDAQ:HFWA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.06. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 13.64%. Analysts expect that Heritage Financial Co. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. This is an increase from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Frederick B. Rivera sold 4,000 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.43, for a total transaction of $101,720.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,752.92. This trade represents a 50.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Heritage Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 5,762 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 71.4% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,741,058 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,903,000 after buying an additional 725,257 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC bought a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the third quarter worth about $1,194,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in Heritage Financial during the third quarter valued at about $338,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 90.7% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 34,672 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $755,000 after acquiring an additional 16,489 shares during the period. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.