WaFd’s (WAFD) “Equal Weight” Rating Reaffirmed at Stephens

Stephens reaffirmed their equal weight rating on shares of WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $32.00 price objective on the bank’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on WAFD. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of WaFd from $37.00 to $35.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 18th. StockNews.com cut shares of WaFd from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, DA Davidson restated a buy rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of WaFd in a report on Thursday, April 11th.

WaFd Stock Performance

WaFd stock opened at $28.59 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company has a market cap of $1.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.38 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.32. WaFd has a fifty-two week low of $23.36 and a fifty-two week high of $34.07.

WaFd Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is an increase from WaFd’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.50%.

Institutional Trading of WaFd

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of WAFD. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of WaFd during the 4th quarter worth $15,363,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in shares of WaFd during the 4th quarter worth $9,270,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,201,972 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,415,000 after buying an additional 192,061 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of WaFd during the 3rd quarter worth $3,732,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,261,777 shares of the bank’s stock worth $173,430,000 after buying an additional 123,575 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by 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.