WaFd, Inc Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.26 (NASDAQ:WAFD)

WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 12th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of 0.26 per share by the bank on Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd.

WaFd has raised its dividend by an average of 4.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. WaFd has a dividend payout ratio of 36.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect WaFd to earn $3.23 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.2%.

WaFd Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of WAFD opened at $35.92 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a PE ratio of 14.48 and a beta of 0.83. WaFd has a 12-month low of $25.78 and a 12-month high of $38.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.01. WaFd had a net margin of 13.97% and a return on equity of 9.44%. The company had revenue of $389.98 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $190.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that WaFd will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Ryan Mauer sold 12,132 shares of WaFd stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.33, for a total value of $404,359.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 100,376 shares in the company, valued at $3,345,532.08. This trade represents a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of WaFd in a research report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com raised WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of WaFd from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of WaFd from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, WaFd currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.00.

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.