Piper Sandler Raises WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) Price Target to $31.00

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) had its price objective boosted by Piper Sandler from $29.00 to $31.00 in a research note released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the bank’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on WAFD. DA Davidson reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of WaFd in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Stephens reaffirmed an equal weight rating and set a $32.00 price objective on shares of WaFd in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded WaFd from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WaFd currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $33.25.

WaFd Price Performance

WAFD opened at $28.72 on Monday. WaFd has a 12-month low of $23.36 and a 12-month high of $34.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.78. The company has a market capitalization of $2.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.92 and a beta of 0.84.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.42. WaFd had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 15.33%. The business had revenue of $171.99 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $170.74 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that WaFd will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 23rd. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.54%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WAFD. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of WaFd in the fourth quarter worth about $15,363,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in shares of WaFd in the fourth quarter worth about $9,270,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of WaFd by 9.6% in the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,201,972 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,415,000 after purchasing an additional 192,061 shares during the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC raised its position in WaFd by 113.8% during the first quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 261,656 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,596,000 after acquiring an additional 139,244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in WaFd by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,902,461 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $229,408,000 after acquiring an additional 125,020 shares in 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.