Public Sector Pension Investment Board Raises Holdings in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 172,284 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,600 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned about 0.21% of WaFd worth $6,004,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in WaFd by 80.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,188 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 531 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in shares of WaFd by 100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,644 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 822 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of WaFd by 515.8% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,558 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,305 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its position 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 during the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in WaFd during the second quarter valued at $80,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WaFd Price Performance

WAFD stock opened at $36.58 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. WaFd, Inc has a 12 month low of $25.78 and a 12 month high of $38.62. The stock has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a PE ratio of 14.75 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $35.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.95.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.01. WaFd had a return on equity of 9.44% and a net margin of 13.97%. The business had revenue of $389.98 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.72 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that WaFd, Inc will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. WaFd’s payout ratio is 41.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on WAFD shares. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of WaFd from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 21st. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on WaFd from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com upgraded WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of WaFd in a report on Monday, October 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WaFd news, EVP Ryan Mauer sold 12,132 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.33, for a total value 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. This represents a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.25% of the company’s stock.

WaFd 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.