Zacks Research Analysts Decrease Earnings Estimates for WaFd

WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) – Equities research analysts at Zacks Research decreased their FY2025 earnings estimates for WaFd in a research note issued on Friday, April 4th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now forecasts that the bank will earn $2.56 per share for the year, down from their previous forecast of $2.57. The consensus estimate for WaFd’s current full-year earnings is $2.56 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for WaFd’s Q1 2026 earnings at $0.72 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $0.75 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $0.71 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $2.91 EPS and Q1 2027 earnings at $0.73 EPS.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on WAFD. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on WaFd from $42.00 to $34.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of WaFd in a research note on Friday, January 17th. DA Davidson cut WaFd from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on WaFd from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of WaFd from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WaFd has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.75.

WaFd Stock Down 5.0 %

Shares of WAFD opened at $25.24 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. WaFd has a 52 week low of $24.55 and a 52 week high of $38.62. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.47.

Institutional Trading of WaFd

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its position in WaFd by 15.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,493 shares of the bank’s stock worth $575,000 after purchasing an additional 2,204 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 69.3% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 28,997 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,011,000 after acquiring an additional 11,868 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 15,445 shares of the bank’s stock worth $538,000 after acquiring an additional 2,018 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of WaFd by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 157,962 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,505,000 after acquiring an additional 8,769 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new position in WaFd during the third quarter valued at approximately $237,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

WaFd Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This is a boost from WaFd’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.28%. WaFd’s payout ratio is currently 49.77%.

WaFd Company Profile

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.