Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Position in WaFd, Inc. $WAFD

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 34.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 504,529 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 129,041 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in WaFd were worth $15,842,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WAFD. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in WaFd by 14.5% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 22,011 shares of the bank’s stock worth $629,000 after purchasing an additional 2,783 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of WaFd by 271.2% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 30,794 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $867,000 after purchasing an additional 22,499 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of WaFd by 26.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 48,094 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,375,000 after purchasing an additional 10,092 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in shares of WaFd by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 246,467 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,044,000 after buying an additional 20,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of WaFd by 862.6% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 69,306 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,981,000 after buying an additional 62,106 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

WaFd Price Performance

Shares of WaFd stock opened at $36.72 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The company has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a PE ratio of 11.58 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50 day moving average of $36.74 and a 200 day moving average of $34.19. WaFd, Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.31 and a 52 week high of $39.49.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $205.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $199.56 million. WaFd had a return on equity of 8.98% and a net margin of 18.47%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that WaFd, Inc. will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio is 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.