Stephens Reiterates Equal Weight Rating for WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Stephens reaffirmed their equal weight rating on shares of WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $32.00 price target on the bank’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on WAFD. StockNews.com cut WaFd from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. DA Davidson reiterated a buy rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of WaFd in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on WaFd from $37.00 to $35.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 18th.

WaFd Price Performance

Shares of WAFD opened at $27.91 on Tuesday. WaFd has a 12-month low of $23.36 and a 12-month high of $34.07. The business’s fifty day moving average is $27.74 and its 200 day moving average is $28.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The stock has a market cap of $1.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.61 and a beta of 0.85.

WaFd Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a $0.26 dividend. This is a positive change from WaFd’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.54%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WaFd

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in WaFd by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,261,777 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $173,430,000 after buying an additional 123,575 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of WaFd by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,201,972 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,415,000 after purchasing an additional 192,061 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of WaFd by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,030,035 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $33,950,000 after purchasing an additional 73,345 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of WaFd by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 699,766 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $17,928,000 after purchasing an additional 78,457 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of WaFd by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 593,230 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,553,000 after purchasing an additional 4,113 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WaFd Company Profile

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.