WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) Receives $37.00 Average Target Price from Brokerages

WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $37.00.

WAFD has been the subject of a number of research reports. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of WaFd from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of WaFd from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of WaFd from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of WaFd from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on WaFd from $30.50 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in WaFd in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,055,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new stake in shares of WaFd during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,387,000. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 75,681.1% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 71,992 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,261,000 after buying an additional 71,897 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of WaFd by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 525,351 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,827,000 after acquiring an additional 42,536 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in WaFd by 37.9% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 191,044 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,999,000 after acquiring an additional 52,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

WaFd Trading Up 1.6%

WaFd stock opened at $37.36 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.38. The company has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.79 and a beta of 0.83. WaFd has a 52-week low of $26.31 and a 52-week high of $39.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.82 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $205.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $199.56 million. WaFd had a net margin of 18.47% and a return on equity of 8.98%. Analysts predict that WaFd will post 3.21 EPS for the current year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

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

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.