Short Interest in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) Expands By 20.8%

WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,850,000 shares, a growth of 20.8% from the March 31st total of 2,360,000 shares. Approximately 3.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 604,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of WaFd from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. DA Davidson cut WaFd from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on WaFd from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com raised WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of WaFd in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.50.

WaFd Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of WaFd stock opened at $29.08 on Friday. WaFd has a 12-month low of $23.75 and a 12-month high of $38.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.40 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $27.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.34.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The bank reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $179.79 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $184.17 million. WaFd had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 8.78%. Equities analysts expect that WaFd will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.27 dividend. This is an increase from WaFd’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WaFd

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd increased its holdings in shares of WaFd by 983.5% during the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 1,116 shares of the bank’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,013 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of WaFd by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,752 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of WaFd by 68.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,000 shares of the bank’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 812 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of WaFd by 35.2% during the first quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 2,002 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in WaFd by 136.7% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,638 shares of the bank’s stock worth $117,000 after buying an additional 2,101 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.