Keeley Teton Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Keeley Teton Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 13.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 17,349 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 2,751 shares during the period. Keeley Teton Advisors LLC’s holdings in WaFd were worth $559,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in WaFd during the fourth quarter worth $1,766,000. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of WaFd by 33.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 161,958 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,643,000 after buying an additional 40,499 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of WaFd by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 447,621 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,431,000 after buying an additional 19,117 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in WaFd by 152.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 469,704 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,143,000 after acquiring an additional 283,953 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in WaFd by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 26,463 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $954,000 after acquiring an additional 1,669 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

WaFd Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ WAFD opened at $27.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.68 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, Inc has a 1 year low of $23.75 and a 1 year high of $38.62. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $28.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.89.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $179.79 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $184.17 million. WaFd had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 12.66%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that WaFd, Inc will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a positive change from WaFd’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.75%.

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.