WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) Earns Market Perform Rating from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated their market perform rating on shares of WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) in a report published on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a $40.00 target price on the bank’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Stephens lifted their price target on WaFd from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. StockNews.com cut WaFd from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.00.

WaFd Stock Performance

Shares of WAFD opened at $34.39 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $35.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.43. The stock has a market cap of $2.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.08 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.09. WaFd has a one year low of $23.36 and a one year high of $37.49.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.01. WaFd had a net margin of 13.97% and a return on equity of 9.65%. The business had revenue of $389.98 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $190.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that WaFd will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 23rd. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.54%.

Institutional Trading of WaFd

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in WaFd in the 3rd quarter worth about $18,583,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in WaFd by 31.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,274,665 shares of the bank’s stock worth $36,430,000 after buying an additional 305,942 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in WaFd by 113.4% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 272,721 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,794,000 after acquiring an additional 144,920 shares in the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC lifted its stake in WaFd by 113.8% in the first quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 261,656 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,596,000 after acquiring an additional 139,244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in WaFd by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,902,461 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $229,408,000 after acquiring an additional 125,020 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

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.