WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

by · The Cerbat Gem

StockNews.com upgraded shares of WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD – Free Report) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on WAFD. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on WaFd from $42.00 to $34.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of WaFd from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $38.00 target price on shares of WaFd in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered shares of WaFd from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $35.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.50.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on WAFD

WaFd Trading Up 9.0 %

Shares of WaFd stock opened at $26.74 on Friday. WaFd has a 12-month low of $23.75 and a 12-month high of $38.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.32 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.96.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $179.79 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $184.17 million. WaFd had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 12.66%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that WaFd will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from WaFd’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.04%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio is 49.77%.

Institutional Trading of WaFd

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WAFD. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of WaFd during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,766,000. Barclays PLC raised its position in WaFd by 33.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 161,958 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,643,000 after purchasing an additional 40,499 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in WaFd by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 447,621 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,431,000 after purchasing an additional 19,117 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in WaFd by 6.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 26,463 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $954,000 after buying an additional 1,669 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in shares of WaFd by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 18,574 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $599,000 after buying an additional 3,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

About WaFd

(Get Free Report)

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.

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