StockNews.com Upgrades WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) to Hold

StockNews.com upgraded shares of WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Stephens increased their target price on WaFd from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of WaFd from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of WaFd in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of WaFd from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.00.

WaFd Trading Down 0.5 %

WAFD opened at $36.97 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.25. WaFd has a fifty-two week low of $25.78 and a fifty-two week high of $38.58. The company has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.91 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.01. WaFd had a net margin of 13.97% and a return on equity of 9.44%. The company had revenue of $389.98 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $190.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that WaFd will post 2.83 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.94%.

Insider Activity at WaFd

In related news, EVP Ryan Mauer sold 12,132 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WaFd

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WAFD. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of WaFd during the third quarter worth about $18,583,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in WaFd by 31.6% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,274,665 shares of the bank’s stock worth $36,430,000 after acquiring an additional 305,942 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of WaFd by 113.4% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 272,721 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,794,000 after acquiring an additional 144,920 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 125,020 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of WaFd by 28.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 428,504 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,933,000 after purchasing an additional 95,251 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

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.