WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) Trading Down 3.6% After Analyst Downgrade

WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)’s stock price fell 3.6% on Monday after Piper Sandler lowered their price target on the stock from $36.00 to $35.00. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the stock. WaFd traded as low as $34.82 and last traded at $34.87. Approximately 46,755 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 443,516 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.17.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on WAFD. StockNews.com lowered shares of WaFd from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. DA Davidson lifted their target price on WaFd from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Stephens raised their price objective on WaFd from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of WaFd in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WAFD. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of WaFd by 80.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,188 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 531 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in WaFd by 515.8% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,558 shares of the bank’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 1,305 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in WaFd by 100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,644 shares of the bank’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 822 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in WaFd during the 2nd quarter valued at about $80,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WaFd during the third quarter worth approximately $194,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

WaFd Trading Down 6.0 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.71 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.37.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.01. WaFd had a net margin of 13.97% and a return on equity of 9.65%. The company had revenue of $389.98 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. Research analysts expect that WaFd, Inc will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 23rd were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.06%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.