MML Investors Services LLC Raises Holdings in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

MML Investors Services LLC lifted its position in shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,835 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,077 shares during the quarter. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in WaFd were worth $552,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dean Investment Associates LLC boosted its position in WaFd by 39.2% during the third quarter. Dean Investment Associates LLC now owns 70,060 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,442,000 after purchasing an additional 19,716 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in WaFd by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 39,465 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,375,000 after buying an additional 2,025 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in WaFd in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $355,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in WaFd during the 3rd quarter valued at $348,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of WaFd by 5.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,969,790 shares of the bank’s stock worth $138,347,000 after acquiring an additional 195,845 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at WaFd

In other WaFd news, EVP Ryan Mauer sold 12,132 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.33, for a total transaction of $404,359.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 100,376 shares in the company, valued at $3,345,532.08. This trade represents a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WAFD. DA Davidson lifted their price target on WaFd from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com upgraded WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of WaFd in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of WaFd from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.00.

WaFd Stock Performance

Shares of WAFD opened at $32.64 on Monday. WaFd, Inc has a 12-month low of $25.78 and a 12-month high of $38.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a market cap of $2.66 billion, a PE ratio of 13.16 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $35.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.72.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $389.98 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $190.43 million. WaFd had a net margin of 13.97% and a return on equity of 9.44%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that WaFd, Inc will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.94%.

WaFd Company Profile

WaFd, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Washington Federal Bank that provides lending, depository, insurance, and other banking services in the United States. The company offers deposit products, including business and personal checking accounts, and term certificates of deposit, as well as money market accounts and passbook savings accounts.