Stephens Reaffirms “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 Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $29.00 target price on the bank’s stock. Stephens’ price target would suggest a potential upside of 18.17% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on WAFD. StockNews.com upgraded shares of WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered 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. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on WaFd from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, DA Davidson cut WaFd from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $35.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.50.

WaFd Stock Performance

Shares of WAFD opened at $24.54 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $28.42 and a 200-day moving average of $32.01. The company has a market cap of $2.00 billion, a PE ratio of 11.31 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. WaFd has a one year low of $23.75 and a one year high of $38.62.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.05. WaFd had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 12.66%. The business had revenue of $179.79 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $184.17 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that WaFd will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WaFd

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WAFD. Vest Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of WaFd during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $708,000. Talbot Financial LLC grew its position in shares of WaFd by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 77,586 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,217,000 after buying an additional 3,288 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in WaFd by 2.6% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 236,909 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,771,000 after buying an additional 6,068 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in WaFd by 2,337.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 40,555 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,159,000 after buying an additional 38,891 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of WaFd in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,163,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

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.