WaFd’s (WAFD) “Equal Weight” Rating Reiterated at Stephens

Stephens reissued their equal weight rating on shares of WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) in a research note released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $29.00 target price on the bank’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on WAFD. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of WaFd from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. DA Davidson lowered WaFd from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com upgraded WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of WaFd from $42.00 to $34.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, WaFd presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.50.

WaFd Stock Up 9.0 %

Shares of WAFD stock opened at $26.74 on Monday. WaFd has a one year low of $23.75 and a one year high of $38.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $28.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.96. The stock has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.32 and a beta of 0.79.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $179.79 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $184.17 million. WaFd had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 12.66%. Analysts predict that WaFd will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from WaFd’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.77%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WaFd

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd raised its position in shares of WaFd by 983.5% during the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 1,116 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,013 shares during the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its holdings in WaFd by 112.7% in the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its stake in WaFd by 29.6% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,752 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in WaFd by 68.4% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 812 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in WaFd by 136.7% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,638 shares of the bank’s stock worth $117,000 after buying an additional 2,101 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.