Stephens Reaffirms “Equal Weight” Rating for WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Stephens restated their equal weight rating on shares of WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) in a report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $32.00 target price on the bank’s stock.

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

WaFd Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of WAFD opened at $27.92 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $27.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.62 and a beta of 0.85. WaFd has a 1-year low of $23.36 and a 1-year high of $34.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

WaFd Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.72%. This is a positive change from WaFd’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. WaFd’s payout ratio is currently 39.54%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WaFd

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WAFD. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of WaFd during the 4th quarter valued at about $15,363,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in shares of WaFd during the 4th quarter valued at about $9,270,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted 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 valued at $56,415,000 after buying an additional 192,061 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of WaFd during the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,732,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted 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 valued at $173,430,000 after buying an additional 123,575 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.