WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) PT Lowered to $35.00 at Piper Sandler

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) had its price target decreased by Piper Sandler from $36.00 to $35.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the bank’s stock.

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

WaFd Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WAFD opened at $34.39 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market cap of $2.80 billion, a PE ratio of 13.08 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.43. WaFd has a 1-year low of $23.36 and a 1-year high of $37.49.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.01. WaFd had a return on equity of 9.65% and a net margin of 13.97%. The company had revenue of $389.98 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $190.43 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that WaFd will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.54%.

Institutional Trading of WaFd

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in WaFd by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,902,461 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $229,408,000 after buying an additional 125,020 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of WaFd by 31.6% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,274,665 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $36,430,000 after acquiring an additional 305,942 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 728,619 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,824,000 after acquiring an additional 9,262 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 606,140 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $17,596,000 after acquiring an additional 12,910 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in WaFd during the 3rd quarter worth $18,583,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

About WaFd

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.