WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) Receives $34.80 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $34.80.

Several research firms recently commented on WAFD. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of WaFd from $30.50 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of WaFd from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Zacks Research raised shares of WaFd from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of WaFd from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th.

Insider Transactions at WaFd

In other WaFd news, EVP Kim E. Robison sold 22,000 shares of WaFd stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.28, for a total value of $776,160.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 116,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,095,972.72. The trade was a 15.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WaFd

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its stake in WaFd by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 18,056 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $578,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in WaFd by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 15,162 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $486,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in WaFd by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,720 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $274,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in WaFd by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,092 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $131,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in WaFd by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 9,539 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $306,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

WaFd Stock Performance

WAFD opened at $37.07 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.11 and a beta of 0.84. WaFd has a 12 month low of $26.31 and a 12 month high of $38.59. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $197.66 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $190.51 million. WaFd had a net margin of 18.25% and a return on equity of 8.94%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.17 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that WaFd will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Investors of record on Friday, May 22nd were given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. WaFd’s payout ratio is currently 35.29%.

About WaFd

Washington Federal, Inc, doing business as WaFd Bank, is a publicly traded bank holding company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Through its subsidiary, WaFd Bank, the company provides a range of banking and financial services to individuals, small-to-medium enterprises, and commercial clients. Established in 1917 as Ballard Savings & Loan in Seattle, the institution expanded over decades to serve customers across the Western United States under the Washington Federal name and has operated as a public company since the early 1980s.

WaFd Bank’s core offerings encompass deposit accounts such as checking, savings, money market, and certificates of deposit, alongside consumer and commercial lending products.