WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $34.80.

WAFD has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, February 8th. Zacks Research upgraded WaFd from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on WaFd from $30.50 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded WaFd from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $34.00 target price on WaFd in a report on Tuesday, January 20th.

WaFd Stock Down 1.2%

WAFD opened at $34.32 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $32.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.41. WaFd has a twelve month low of $26.31 and a twelve month high of $38.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.22 and a beta of 0.85.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.09. WaFd had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 18.25%.The firm had revenue of $197.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.17 EPS. Research analysts forecast that WaFd will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. WaFd’s payout ratio is 35.29%.

Insider Activity at WaFd

In other news, EVP Kim E. Robison sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.28, for a total transaction of $776,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 116,099 shares in the company, valued at $4,095,972.72. The trade was a 15.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 546.8% during the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 61,036 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,849,000 after buying an additional 51,600 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL acquired a new position in shares of WaFd during the third quarter worth approximately $1,387,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 2.0% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,077,059 shares of the bank’s stock worth $62,914,000 after buying an additional 40,569 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 12.5% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 307,366 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,310,000 after buying an additional 34,073 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D acquired a new position in shares of WaFd in the third quarter valued at $2,117,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

WaFd Company Profile

Washington Federal, Inc, doing business as WaFd Bank, is a publicly traded bank holding company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Through its subsidiary, WaFd Bank, the company provides a range of banking and financial services to individuals, small-to-medium enterprises, and commercial clients. Established in 1917 as Ballard Savings & Loan in Seattle, the institution expanded over decades to serve customers across the Western United States under the Washington Federal name and has operated as a public company since the early 1980s.

WaFd Bank’s core offerings encompass deposit accounts such as checking, savings, money market, and certificates of deposit, alongside consumer and commercial lending products.