Fifth Third Bancorp Grows Position in WaFd, Inc. $WAFD

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 75,681.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 71,992 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 71,897 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp owned 0.09% of WaFd worth $2,261,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of WaFd by 42.8% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,174 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its position in WaFd by 57.6% in the second quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,327 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of WaFd during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of WaFd by 712.4% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,901 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 1,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of WaFd by 95.6% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,783 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $89,000 after buying an additional 1,360 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at WaFd

In other WaFd news, EVP Kim E. Robison sold 22,000 shares of WaFd stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.28, for a total transaction of $776,160.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 116,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,095,972.72. The trade was a 15.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on WAFD shares. Zacks Research downgraded WaFd from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on WaFd from $30.50 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on WaFd from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of WaFd from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded WaFd from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WaFd has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.00.

WaFd Price Performance

Shares of WAFD opened at $37.08 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. WaFd, Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.31 and a 52 week high of $39.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $36.66 and a 200-day moving average of $34.13. The firm has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.70 and a beta of 0.83.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by ($0.01). WaFd had a net margin of 18.47% and a return on equity of 8.98%. The company had revenue of $205.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $199.56 million. As a group, analysts forecast that WaFd, Inc. will post 3.24 EPS for the current year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. WaFd’s payout ratio is currently 34.07%.

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.