Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 990 Shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lowered its stake in shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 23,840 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 990 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in WaFd were worth $769,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in WaFd by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 159,726 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,150,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of WaFd during the fourth quarter valued at about $499,000. Inceptionr LLC bought a new stake in shares of WaFd in the fourth quarter worth about $642,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of WaFd in the fourth quarter worth about $1,766,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in WaFd by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 185,859 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,992,000 after buying an additional 9,071 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

WaFd Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of WaFd stock opened at $28.75 on Thursday. WaFd, Inc has a 1 year low of $25.79 and a 1 year high of $38.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.25 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $29.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.64.

WaFd Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.76%. This is a positive change from WaFd’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on WaFd from $42.00 to $34.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. DA Davidson downgraded shares of WaFd from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $35.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of WaFd in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of WaFd from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.75.

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.