WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the five brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $36.25.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings cut WaFd from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on WaFd from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded WaFd from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd.

WaFd Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WAFD opened at $32.54 on Friday. WaFd has a twelve month low of $26.31 and a twelve month high of $39.49. The firm has a market cap of $2.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.26 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a 50 day moving average of $36.46 and a 200 day moving average of $35.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $199.56 million. As a group, research analysts expect that WaFd will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 21st were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 21st. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.07%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WAFD. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in WaFd during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 905 shares during the last quarter. Nykredit A S bought a new stake in WaFd in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $52,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in WaFd by 95.6% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,783 shares of the bank’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 1,360 shares during the period. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new stake in WaFd during the 2nd quarter valued at $230,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About WaFd

WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ: WAFD), formerly known as Washington Federal, is the holding company for WaFd Bank, a regional financial institution serving individuals, families, businesses and commercial real estate customers. The bank provides deposit accounts, residential and commercial real estate lending, consumer loans, business banking, treasury management and online and mobile banking services.

Founded in 1917, WaFd began as a savings and loan institution in Seattle and has expanded into a full-service regional bank.