Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires New Shares in WaFd, Inc. $WAFD

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 33,600 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,055,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new stake in WaFd during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,387,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in WaFd by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 338,608 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,256,000 after buying an additional 45,228 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in WaFd by 112.5% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 53,645 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,718,000 after buying an additional 28,406 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of WaFd by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 525,351 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,827,000 after buying an additional 42,536 shares during the period. Finally, Azora Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of WaFd during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,414,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at WaFd

In other news, EVP Kim E. Robison sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.28, for a total value of $776,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 116,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,095,972.72. This represents a 15.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

WaFd Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WAFD opened at $38.34 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $36.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.53 and a beta of 0.83. WaFd, Inc. has a one year low of $26.31 and a one year high of $39.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $197.66 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $190.51 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.17 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that WaFd, Inc. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. WaFd’s payout ratio is 35.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WAFD has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of 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 shares of WaFd from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of WaFd from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of WaFd from $30.50 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, WaFd currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.80.

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.