WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) Stake Lowered by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System cut its stake in shares of WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 12.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,815 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 3,404 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in WaFd were worth $681,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WAFD. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in WaFd by 35.2% in the 1st quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 2,002 shares of the bank’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 521 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in WaFd by 12.7% in the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,239 shares of the bank’s stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the period. Aquatic Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in WaFd in the fourth quarter worth approximately $141,000. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in WaFd by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 6,987 shares of the bank’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, Crestline Management LP acquired a new stake in WaFd in the fourth quarter worth approximately $258,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WAFD shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. DA Davidson upped their target price on WaFd from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Stephens increased their price objective on WaFd from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on WaFd from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on WaFd from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.25.

WaFd Trading Up 1.9%

WaFd stock opened at $31.06 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $2.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 0.90. WaFd, Inc. has a one year low of $23.75 and a one year high of $38.62. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $29.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.95.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $186.26 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $184.47 million. WaFd had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 15.57%. On average, analysts forecast that WaFd, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.06%.

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.