Piper Sandler Lowers WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) Price Target to $31.00

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) had its price target trimmed by Piper Sandler from $37.00 to $31.00 in a research note released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the bank’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on shares of WaFd in a research report on Friday, January 17th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of WaFd from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of WaFd from $42.00 to $34.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WaFd currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.00.

WaFd Price Performance

NASDAQ WAFD opened at $29.88 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.77 and a beta of 0.87. WaFd has a 1 year low of $25.78 and a 1 year high of $38.62. The business’s fifty day moving average is $34.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.93%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Ryan Mauer sold 12,132 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.33, for a total transaction of $404,359.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 100,376 shares in the company, valued at $3,345,532.08. The trade was a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WaFd

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in WaFd by 80.8% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,188 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 531 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its holdings in WaFd by 112.7% in the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the bank’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in WaFd by 515.8% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,558 shares of the bank’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,305 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in WaFd by 100.0% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,644 shares of the bank’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in WaFd by 60.1% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,904 shares of the bank’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About WaFd

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.