Bank of Montreal Can Acquires 1,192 Shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 13.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 9,908 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,192 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in WaFd were worth $319,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in WaFd by 152.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 469,704 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,143,000 after acquiring an additional 283,953 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in WaFd by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,774,081 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $57,196,000 after buying an additional 234,977 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of WaFd during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,539,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of WaFd by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,420,004 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $303,701,000 after acquiring an additional 166,931 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in WaFd by 28.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 428,504 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,933,000 after purchasing an additional 95,251 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on WAFD. DA Davidson lowered WaFd from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $35.00 to $32.00 in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of WaFd from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of WaFd from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of WaFd in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.50.

WaFd Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WAFD opened at $28.41 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.32 billion, a PE ratio of 13.09 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. WaFd, Inc has a 52-week low of $23.75 and a 52-week high of $38.62. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $28.04 and a 200 day moving average of $31.69.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The bank reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $179.79 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $184.17 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that WaFd, Inc will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.80%. This is a positive change from WaFd’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.75%.

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.