WaFd, Inc. $WAFD Position Increased by Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its holdings in WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 546.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 61,036 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 51,600 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in WaFd were worth $1,849,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WAFD. AlphaCore Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of WaFd by 99.9% during the second quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 33,571 shares of the bank’s stock worth $983,000 after buying an additional 16,780 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of WaFd in the second quarter valued at about $7,666,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of WaFd in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,052,000. Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of WaFd during the 2nd quarter worth about $293,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of WaFd by 4.5% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,036,490 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $59,628,000 after acquiring an additional 87,956 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other WaFd news, CEO Brent J. Beardall purchased 3,000 shares of WaFd stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $16.85 per share, with a total value of $50,550.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 6,000 shares in the company, valued at $101,100. This trade represents a 100.00% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on WaFd from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $34.00 price objective on shares of WaFd in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on WaFd from $33.50 to $30.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of WaFd in a report on Monday, December 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.90.

WaFd Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WAFD opened at $32.60 on Friday. WaFd, Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.75 and a 1 year high of $33.92. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $32.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a PE ratio of 11.28 and a beta of 0.86.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 16th. The bank reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $188.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.36 million. WaFd had a net margin of 17.45% and a return on equity of 8.67%. On average, research analysts predict that WaFd, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 21st. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. WaFd’s payout ratio is 37.37%.

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.