21,000 WaFd, Inc. $WAFD Shares Sold by Hennessy Advisors Inc.

Hennessy Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 75,000 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 21,000 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in WaFd were worth $2,245,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of WaFd during the second quarter valued at approximately $34,655,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in WaFd in the second quarter worth $1,315,000. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its position in WaFd by 21.6% in the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 338,027 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,117,000 after purchasing an additional 60,135 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in WaFd during the second quarter worth $1,417,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in WaFd during the second quarter worth $413,410,000. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

WaFd Price Performance

Shares of WAFD stock opened at $30.35 on Tuesday. WaFd, Inc. has a 52-week low of $28.10 and a 52-week high of $39.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market cap of $2.25 billion, a PE ratio of 9.45 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $31.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.93.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 15th. The bank reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.01. WaFd had a net margin of 18.04% and a return on equity of 9.37%. The firm had revenue of $220.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $203.66 million. As a group, analysts forecast that WaFd, Inc. will post 3.34 EPS for the current year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 21st were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 21st. WaFd’s payout ratio is 33.64%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WAFD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of WaFd from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of WaFd from $40.00 to $34.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 19th. DA Davidson set a $31.00 target price on shares of WaFd in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Zacks Research raised shares of WaFd from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of WaFd from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.50.

About WaFd

WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ: WAFD) is the parent company of WaFd Bank, a regional financial institution that provides banking and lending services to individuals, families, businesses and real estate investors. The bank offers deposit accounts, checking and savings products, residential mortgages, home equity loans, commercial real estate financing, business loans and construction lending.

WaFd Bank also provides treasury management and cash-management services for businesses, along with personal and commercial banking solutions through its branch network and digital banking platforms.