Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) Shares Cross Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) shares crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $26.33 and traded as high as $28.34. Heritage Financial shares last traded at $28.08, with a volume of 265,401 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Heritage Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Zacks Research cut Heritage Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Heritage Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Heritage Financial from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.50.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $27.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a PE ratio of 13.76 and a beta of 0.49.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 8.71% and a net margin of 20.50%.The firm had revenue of $77.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.31 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Heritage Financial Corporation will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 6th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 6th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Heritage Financial

In other news, CFO Donald Hinson sold 3,842 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.37, for a total value of $108,997.54. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 41,241 shares in the company, valued at $1,170,007.17. This represents a 8.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Heritage Financial

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Heritage Financial by 27,871.4% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,951 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 1,431 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,171 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 891 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Heritage Financial by 7.7% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 117.1% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,457 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $205,000 after buying an additional 4,561 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

About Heritage Financial

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.