Public Sector Pension Investment Board Grows Position in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 172,284 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 23,600 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in WaFd were worth $6,004,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of WaFd by 15.0% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 15,445 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $538,000 after purchasing an additional 2,018 shares in the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in WaFd during the 3rd quarter valued at $314,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in WaFd by 69.3% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 28,997 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,011,000 after acquiring an additional 11,868 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of WaFd by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,493 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $575,000 after acquiring an additional 2,204 shares during the period. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its position in shares of WaFd by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 41,400 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,443,000 after acquiring an additional 437 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

WaFd Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WAFD opened at $36.58 on Friday. WaFd, Inc has a fifty-two week low of $25.78 and a fifty-two week high of $38.62. The company has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a PE ratio of 14.75 and a beta of 0.83. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.95.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $389.98 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $190.43 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that WaFd, Inc will post 2.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.94%.

Insider Activity at WaFd

In other WaFd news, EVP Ryan Mauer sold 12,132 shares of the business’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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 100,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,345,532.08. The trade was a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WAFD. StockNews.com raised WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of WaFd from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research 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 report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of WaFd from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, WaFd has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.00.

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.