41,956 Shares in WaFd, Inc. $WAFD Bought by Man Group plc

Man Group plc purchased a new position in shares of WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 41,956 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,610,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of WaFd by 3,620.0% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 930 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 905 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 42.8% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,174 shares of the bank’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the period. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 57.6% during the second quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,327 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the period. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in WaFd in the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in WaFd by 712.4% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,901 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 1,667 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

WaFd Stock Performance

WAFD opened at $35.38 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $37.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.00. WaFd, Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.31 and a 1 year high of $39.49. The stock has a market cap of $2.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.16 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.82 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $205.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $199.56 million. WaFd had a net margin of 18.47% and a return on equity of 8.98%. Equities research analysts anticipate that WaFd, Inc. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Investors of record on Friday, August 21st will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 21st. WaFd’s payout ratio is currently 34.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on WAFD shares. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of WaFd from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Zacks Research lowered shares of WaFd from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of WaFd in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.00.

WaFd 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.