Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Donald Hinson : Well, I’m not sure I gave a time line. I think I mentioned more of a scenario where if we saw a stabilization of both balances and starting to see the stabilization of the costs, at least we’re to a point that they weren’t going up any more than our yield on assets, then we would see some margin stabilization. It’s hard to predict when that’s going to happen. But I do think that it’s going to be a decrease in margin this quarter in Q3 will be much less. Again, probably evidenced by it was 3.56% for the quarter, it’s 3.54% for June, I do think we’ll continue to see compression, but much lower.

Jeffrey Rulis : Okay. All right. Got it. And maybe a last one, Jeff, I…

Donald Hinson : And just real quick, just to be clear, maybe not very definitive, but I’m probably thinking more in the high 3.40s kind of range for that for this next quarter.

Jeffrey Rulis : Okay. That’s helpful. Yes. And I didn’t say that you put a timeline on it. I just missed it. Okay. And Jeff, on the capital light cash every quarter, but CET1 nearly 13%. And I think you had talked pre-pandemic, I thought you were kind of close to a deal or maybe my radar was off, but it was — you were having conversations and maybe that’s off on the sideline for a bit. But I guess just more specifically the buybacks, is that in discussion with your Board, is that pretty active? Or just looking for other areas of capital as you grow it and maybe if M&A is on the sideline for a bit? Just wanted to revisit your priorities on capital use.

Jeffrey Deuel : Yes. Well, Don probably would be best to apply to the buyback strategy. But on the M&A side, we were close to something before the pandemic set in and set that aside, that’s not available anymore. We — as we’ve said in more recent quarters, we’re staying close to all the banks we know and like. We continue to have ongoing conversations just in general, just to stay acquainted and stay — keep the story fresh, but nothing imminent or urgent. And I wouldn’t expect anything to present itself that we’d be interested in probably for the balance of the year at a minimum. Don, do you want to talk about buybacks?

Donald Hinson : Sure. We were kind of picking at it a little bit this year, but we don’t expect to really be heavily involved in buybacks at this point for this year.

Jeffrey Rulis : And that’s more a product of the macro environment? Or I mean, if growth is maybe mid, high single digit, just trying to get a sense for why that — is it valuation? What’s the driver of why you don’t think you’ll be too active?

Donald Hinson : It’s a combination of allowing us to grow certain aspects of our loan portfolio in addition to potential recessionaries that could be coming down the line. So we’re just kind of at this point waiting and again, that’s going to be very active at this point as a result.

Jeffrey Deuel : I think it’s also an indicator of our generally conservative nature.

Operator: Our next question comes from Andrew Terrell with Stephens.

Andrew Terrell : Jeff, maybe if I could start. You mentioned in your opening remarks something around just the tune of credit quality returning to more normalized levels. And I understand kind of that’s maybe the macro backdrop right now, but credit really seems still really strong and heritage. I was curious if you could maybe just elaborate on what fronted that comment in the prepared remarks? And then where specifically you have concerns in the portfolio, if any, or what you’re watching more closely across the book right now?