AlphaCore Capital LLC Lowers Position in WaFd, Inc. $WAFD

AlphaCore Capital LLC decreased its holdings in shares of WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,790 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 16,781 shares during the period. AlphaCore Capital LLC’s holdings in WaFd were worth $509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of WaFd in the 3rd quarter valued at about $374,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D purchased a new position in shares of WaFd during the third quarter worth about $2,117,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of WaFd by 2.7% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 14,070 shares of the bank’s stock worth $426,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in WaFd by 12.5% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 307,366 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,310,000 after purchasing an additional 34,073 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in WaFd in the third quarter valued at approximately $318,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on WAFD. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of WaFd in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $34.00 price objective on shares of WaFd in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of WaFd from $33.50 to $30.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Wall Street Zen raised WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on WaFd from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, WaFd has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.90.

Insider Transactions at WaFd

In other WaFd news, CEO Brent J. Beardall bought 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $16.85 per share, with a total value of $50,550.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 6,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $101,100. This trade represents a 100.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Cathy E. Cooper sold 5,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.77, for a total value of $178,981.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 94,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,199,876.35. This represents a 5.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

WaFd Stock Performance

Shares of WAFD stock opened at $31.16 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.78 and a beta of 0.86. WaFd, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.75 and a fifty-two week high of $34.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $32.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.52.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 16th. The bank reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.01). WaFd had a return on equity of 8.67% and a net margin of 17.45%.The firm had revenue of $188.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.36 million. Analysts expect that WaFd, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.37%.

About WaFd

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.