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

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed their market perform rating on shares of WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a $40.00 price target on the bank’s stock.

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

WaFd Price Performance

WAFD stock opened at $34.16 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $35.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.77 and a beta of 0.83. WaFd has a 52-week low of $23.36 and a 52-week high of $37.49.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.01. WaFd had a return on equity of 9.44% and a net margin of 13.97%. The company had revenue of $389.98 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $190.43 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that WaFd will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 was Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.04%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.94%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its holdings in 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 period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in WaFd in the third quarter valued at $250,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in 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 period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in WaFd in the third quarter valued at $18,583,000. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in WaFd by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 11,422 shares of the bank’s stock worth $398,000 after buying an additional 1,766 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About WaFd

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.