New York State Teachers Retirement System Decreases Stock Position in WaFd, Inc. $WAFD

New York State Teachers Retirement System lessened its stake in shares of WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 49.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 63,494 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 63,363 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.08% of WaFd worth $1,994,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WAFD. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in WaFd by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,980,089 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $159,514,000 after buying an additional 26,000 shares during the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its stake in WaFd by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,557,436 shares of the bank’s stock worth $49,885,000 after acquiring an additional 8,039 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of WaFd by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,375,110 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,652,000 after acquiring an additional 145,646 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of WaFd by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 712,302 shares of the bank’s stock worth $22,815,000 after acquiring an additional 38,376 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of WaFd by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 698,303 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $21,152,000 after acquiring an additional 41,598 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WAFD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of WaFd from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of WaFd from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of WaFd from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of WaFd from $30.50 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.80.

Insider Activity at WaFd

In other news, EVP Kim E. Robison sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.28, for a total transaction of $776,160.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 116,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,095,972.72. This trade represents a 15.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

WaFd Stock Up 0.9%

NASDAQ:WAFD opened at $38.10 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.45 and a beta of 0.83. WaFd, Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.31 and a twelve month high of $39.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.87.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $0.17 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that WaFd, Inc. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

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

About WaFd

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.