WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) Hits New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $38.90 and last traded at $38.7150, with a volume of 77355 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $38.37.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on WAFD. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on 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 lowered WaFd from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on WaFd from $30.50 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised WaFd from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.80.

WaFd Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.78 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s fifty day moving average is $35.86 and its 200 day moving average is $33.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.09. WaFd had a net margin of 18.25% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The business had revenue of $197.66 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $190.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.17 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that WaFd, Inc. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. WaFd’s payout ratio is currently 35.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Kim E. Robison sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.28, for a total transaction of $776,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 116,099 shares in the company, valued at $4,095,972.72. This represents a 15.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of WaFd

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WAFD. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of WaFd by 14.5% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 22,011 shares of the bank’s stock worth $629,000 after purchasing an additional 2,783 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in WaFd by 271.2% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 30,794 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $867,000 after buying an additional 22,499 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in WaFd by 26.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 48,094 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,375,000 after acquiring an additional 10,092 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of WaFd by 9.2% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 246,467 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,044,000 after acquiring an additional 20,865 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in shares of WaFd by 862.6% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 69,306 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,981,000 after acquiring an additional 62,106 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

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.