Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Purchases 4,367 Shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 10.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,710 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,367 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.06% of WaFd worth $1,474,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 152.9% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 469,704 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,143,000 after purchasing an additional 283,953 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,774,081 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $57,196,000 after acquiring an additional 234,977 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of WaFd during the 4th quarter valued at about $6,539,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of WaFd by 63.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 493,501 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,910,000 after acquiring an additional 191,855 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of WaFd by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,420,004 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $303,701,000 after purchasing an additional 166,931 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WAFD has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on WaFd from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on WaFd from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. DA Davidson lowered shares of WaFd from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $35.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of WaFd in a report on Monday, April 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.50.

WaFd Stock Performance

Shares of WAFD opened at $29.04 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. WaFd, Inc has a 52 week low of $23.75 and a 52 week high of $38.62. The stock has a market cap of $2.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.38 and a beta of 0.85.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The bank reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $179.79 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $184.17 million. WaFd had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 8.78%. On average, analysts expect that WaFd, Inc will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

WaFd Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is a boost from WaFd’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.72%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.75%.

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.