Empowered Funds LLC Buys Shares of 348,477 WaFd, Inc. $WAFD

Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 348,477 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $13,371,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of WaFd in the second quarter valued at approximately $369,000. Corient Private Wealth LP purchased a new position in shares of WaFd during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,644,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of WaFd during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,655,000. Odyssean LLC acquired a new position in shares of WaFd during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $263,000. Finally, Man Group plc purchased a new stake in WaFd in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,610,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on WAFD. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of WaFd in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on WaFd from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded WaFd from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.00.

WaFd Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ WAFD opened at $36.09 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.38 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. WaFd, Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.31 and a 1 year high of $39.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $37.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.96.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.82 by ($0.01). WaFd had a net margin of 18.47% and a return on equity of 8.98%. The business had revenue of $205.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $199.56 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that WaFd, Inc. will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 21st will be given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 21st. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. WaFd’s payout ratio is currently 34.07%.

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.