Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Raises Holdings in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 15.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 14,194 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 1,928 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in WaFd were worth $412,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in WaFd by 2.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 120,314 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,082,000 after purchasing an additional 2,304 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. bought a new stake in shares of WaFd in the third quarter valued at approximately $322,000. Teza Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of WaFd during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $228,000. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in WaFd by 28.5% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 12,874 shares of the bank’s stock worth $330,000 after buying an additional 2,853 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in WaFd by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 699,766 shares of the bank’s stock worth $17,928,000 after buying an additional 78,457 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

WaFd Stock Performance

Shares of WAFD opened at $28.20 on Thursday. WaFd, Inc has a 12-month low of $23.36 and a 12-month high of $34.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07. The company has a market cap of $2.30 billion, a PE ratio of 10.72 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $27.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.61.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $171.99 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.74 million. WaFd had a net margin of 15.33% and a return on equity of 10.02%. WaFd’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that WaFd, Inc will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 24th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.69%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WAFD has been the topic of several recent research reports. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of WaFd in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of WaFd in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of WaFd from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of WaFd from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.25.

WaFd 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.