Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Takes $253,000 Position in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 7,666 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $253,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of WaFd by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 18,851 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $483,000 after buying an additional 413 shares during the period. State of Wyoming boosted its position in shares of WaFd by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 5,084 shares of the bank’s stock worth $171,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of WaFd by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 143,793 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,824,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. Lakeside Advisors INC. boosted its position in shares of WaFd by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Lakeside Advisors INC. now owns 8,718 shares of the bank’s stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of WaFd by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 75,944 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,548,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on WaFd from $37.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of WaFd in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. StockNews.com lowered WaFd from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of WaFd in a research report on Thursday, April 11th.

WaFd Stock Performance

WAFD stock opened at $27.90 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $27.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The firm has a market cap of $1.81 billion, a PE ratio of 8.18 and a beta of 0.85. WaFd, Inc has a 1-year low of $23.36 and a 1-year high of $34.07.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 16th. The bank reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $166.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.45 million. WaFd had a return on equity of 11.19% and a net margin of 20.58%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.16 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that WaFd, Inc will post 2.58 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a positive change from WaFd’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. WaFd’s payout ratio is currently 30.50%.

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.