WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) Receives $34.80 Consensus PT from Brokerages

WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $34.80.

A number of research firms recently commented on WAFD. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on WaFd from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Zacks Research upgraded WaFd from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded WaFd from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on WaFd from $30.50 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th.

WaFd Trading Up 1.4%

WaFd stock opened at $37.07 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.16. WaFd has a 12 month low of $26.31 and a 12 month high of $38.59. The company has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.11 and a beta of 0.84.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.83 EPS 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 business had revenue of $197.66 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $190.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.17 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that WaFd will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other WaFd news, EVP Kim E. Robison sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.28, for a total value of $776,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 116,099 shares in the company, valued at $4,095,972.72. This represents a 15.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of WaFd

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in WaFd by 3,620.0% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 930 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 905 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in WaFd by 42.8% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,174 shares of the bank’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its stake in shares of WaFd by 57.6% in the second quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,327 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of WaFd by 604.5% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,423 shares of the bank’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 1,221 shares during the period. Finally, Danske Bank A S bought a new position in shares of WaFd in the third quarter worth about $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

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.