Stephens Reiterates Equal Weight Rating for WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD)

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reaffirmed by Stephens in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $38.00 target price on the bank’s stock. Stephens’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 24.96% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on WAFD. StockNews.com raised WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of WaFd from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of WaFd in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on WaFd from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, WaFd presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.50.

WaFd Trading Down 1.9 %

WAFD traded down $0.60 during trading on Friday, reaching $30.41. The company had a trading volume of 408,161 shares, compared to its average volume of 588,207. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. The company has a market cap of $2.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.26 and a beta of 0.87. WaFd has a 12-month low of $25.78 and a 12-month high of $38.62.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.01. WaFd had a net margin of 13.97% and a return on equity of 9.44%. The business had revenue of $389.98 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.72 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that WaFd will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Ryan Mauer sold 12,132 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.33, for a total transaction of $404,359.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 100,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,345,532.08. This represents a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WaFd

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of WaFd by 80.8% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,188 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 531 shares during the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its position in WaFd by 112.7% during the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the bank’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 701 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in WaFd by 515.8% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,558 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 1,305 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of WaFd by 100.0% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,644 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of WaFd by 60.1% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,904 shares of the bank’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 715 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

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.