WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) Earns Market Perform Rating from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated their market perform rating on shares of WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $40.00 price target on the bank’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Stephens raised their target price on WaFd from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. StockNews.com downgraded WaFd from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WaFd has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.00.

WaFd Stock Performance

Shares of WAFD stock opened at $34.16 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.77 and a beta of 0.83. The business’s 50 day moving average is $35.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. WaFd has a 12-month low of $23.36 and a 12-month high of $37.49.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $389.98 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $190.43 million. WaFd had a return on equity of 9.44% and a net margin of 13.97%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.72 earnings per share. Analysts expect that WaFd will post 2.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 23rd were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.04%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.94%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WaFd

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its holdings in shares of WaFd by 16.8% in the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 46,347 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,615,000 after purchasing an additional 6,672 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in shares of WaFd in the third quarter valued at approximately $250,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of WaFd by 15.6% in the third quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 39,300 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,370,000 after purchasing an additional 5,300 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of WaFd in the third quarter valued at approximately $18,583,000. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of WaFd by 18.3% in the third quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 11,422 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $398,000 after purchasing an additional 1,766 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

WaFd Company Profile

WaFd, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Washington Federal Bank that provides lending, depository, insurance, and other banking services in the United States. The company offers deposit products, including business and personal checking accounts, and term certificates of deposit, as well as money market accounts and passbook savings accounts.