StockNews.com Lowers WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) to Sell

StockNews.com downgraded shares of WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Thursday.

Separately, Stephens raised their target price on WaFd from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, WaFd presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $34.25.

WaFd Stock Performance

Shares of WAFD stock opened at $34.04 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.94 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $34.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.79. WaFd has a one year low of $23.36 and a one year high of $37.49.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.18. WaFd had a return on equity of 9.58% and a net margin of 14.13%. The company had revenue of $194.44 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $185.36 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that WaFd will post 3 EPS for the current year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.06%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.54%.

Institutional Trading of WaFd

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of WaFd by 3.3% during the first quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 11,703 shares of the bank’s stock worth $340,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its holdings in WaFd by 5.7% in the first quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 6,887 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $200,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in WaFd by 1.6% in the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 24,596 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $714,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in WaFd by 1.2% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 34,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $972,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in WaFd by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 12,054 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $397,000 after acquiring an additional 661 shares in the last quarter. 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.