Brokerages Set WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) Price Target at $32.00

Shares of WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the five brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $32.00.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on WAFD shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of WaFd from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded WaFd from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of WaFd in a report on Wednesday, October 8th.

Insider Buying and Selling at WaFd

In other news, CEO Brent J. Beardall bought 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $16.85 per share, for a total transaction of $50,550.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 6,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,100. This trade represents a 100.00% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of WAFD. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL acquired a new stake in shares of WaFd during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,387,000. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new stake in WaFd in the third quarter valued at approximately $255,000. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of WaFd in the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of WaFd by 7.0% in the third quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 119,208 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,611,000 after buying an additional 7,761 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC raised its stake in shares of WaFd by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 54,304 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,645,000 after buying an additional 5,148 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

WaFd Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of WAFD stock opened at $33.33 on Wednesday. WaFd has a fifty-two week low of $23.75 and a fifty-two week high of $33.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.56 billion, a PE ratio of 12.63 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.39.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The bank reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter. WaFd had a return on equity of 8.40% and a net margin of 16.02%.The firm had revenue of $187.62 million for the quarter. Equities analysts expect that WaFd will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 21st. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.91%.

WaFd Company Profile

Washington Federal, Inc, doing business as WaFd Bank, is a publicly traded bank holding company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Through its subsidiary, WaFd Bank, the company provides a range of banking and financial services to individuals, small-to-medium enterprises, and commercial clients. Established in 1917 as Ballard Savings & Loan in Seattle, the institution expanded over decades to serve customers across the Western United States under the Washington Federal name and has operated as a public company since the early 1980s.

WaFd Bank’s core offerings encompass deposit accounts such as checking, savings, money market, and certificates of deposit, alongside consumer and commercial lending products.