Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 13,972 Shares of WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 3.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 461,593 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 13,972 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.57% of WaFd worth $13,192,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WAFD. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of WaFd by 136.7% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,638 shares of the bank’s stock worth $117,000 after buying an additional 2,101 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in WaFd by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 185,859 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,992,000 after purchasing an additional 9,071 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in WaFd during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,766,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in WaFd during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $499,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its position in WaFd by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 159,726 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,150,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WAFD has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen cut WaFd from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on WaFd from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $29.00 price target on shares of WaFd in a research report on Monday, April 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WaFd currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.50.

WaFd Stock Performance

WAFD opened at $30.80 on Friday. WaFd, Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.75 and a 12-month high of $38.62. The stock has a market cap of $2.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.62 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a 50 day moving average of $29.24 and a 200-day moving average of $29.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.05. WaFd had a return on equity of 8.74% and a net margin of 15.13%. The company had revenue of $179.79 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $184.17 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that WaFd, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.51%. WaFd’s payout ratio is currently 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.