MetLife Investment Management LLC Acquires 642,270 Shares of WaFd, Inc. $WAFD

MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 1,576.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 683,003 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 642,270 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned 0.85% of WaFd worth $19,520,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WAFD. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of WaFd by 3.5% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 13,892 shares of the bank’s stock worth $397,000 after buying an additional 468 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of WaFd by 12.7% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,239 shares of the bank’s stock worth $121,000 after buying an additional 477 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of WaFd by 35.2% during the first quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 2,002 shares of the bank’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 521 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its position in shares of WaFd by 4.7% during the first quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 12,164 shares of the bank’s stock worth $348,000 after buying an additional 549 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of WaFd during the first quarter worth about $28,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stephens upped their price objective on WaFd from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. DA Davidson increased their price target on WaFd from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen raised WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on WaFd from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on WaFd from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, WaFd has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.25.

WaFd Stock Performance

WAFD opened at $31.73 on Monday. WaFd, Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.75 and a 12-month high of $38.62. The stock has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.06 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50 day moving average of $29.86 and a 200-day moving average of $28.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.06. WaFd had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 15.57%.The company had revenue of $186.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $184.47 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that WaFd, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 22nd. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.06%.

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.