Fifth Third Bancorp Has $2.26 Million Holdings in WaFd, Inc. $WAFD

Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 75,681.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 71,992 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 71,897 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in WaFd were worth $2,261,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 8.6% during the first quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,158 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $319,000 after acquiring an additional 801 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of WaFd during the 1st quarter worth about $1,055,000. Baron Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of WaFd by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,720 shares of the bank’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV acquired a new position in WaFd in the fourth quarter valued at about $231,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in WaFd in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,368,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on WAFD shares. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of WaFd from $30.50 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on WaFd from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. DA Davidson increased their target price on WaFd from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Weiss Ratings raised WaFd from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of WaFd from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.00.

WaFd Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WAFD opened at $37.08 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.13. WaFd, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.31 and a fifty-two week high of $39.49. The company has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.70 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.82 by ($0.01). WaFd had a net margin of 18.47% and a return on equity of 8.98%. The firm had revenue of $205.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $199.56 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that WaFd, Inc. will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Investors of record on Friday, May 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Kim E. Robison sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 116,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,095,972.72. This represents a 15.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.49% 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.