Franklin Resources Inc. Has $375,000 Stock Holdings in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Franklin Resources Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 56.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,638 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 14,825 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in WaFd were worth $375,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its position in shares of WaFd by 112.7% in the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 701 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in WaFd by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,752 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in WaFd by 68.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 812 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its position in WaFd by 136.7% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,638 shares of the bank’s stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 2,101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of WaFd by 34.5% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,762 shares of the bank’s stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 965 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on WaFd from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of WaFd in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com raised WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of WaFd from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, DA Davidson cut shares of WaFd from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, WaFd presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.50.

WaFd Stock Performance

NASDAQ WAFD opened at $28.03 on Friday. WaFd, Inc has a 1-year low of $23.75 and a 1-year high of $38.62. The company has a 50 day moving average of $28.18 and a 200-day moving average of $31.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.92 and a beta of 0.79.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.05. WaFd had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 12.66%. The firm had revenue of $179.79 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $184.17 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that WaFd, Inc will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.85%. This is a positive change from WaFd’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.75%.

About WaFd

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.