Short Interest in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) Grows By 74.0%

WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,724,000 shares, a growth of 74.0% from the May 31st total of 990,800 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 396,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WAFD. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of WaFd in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on WaFd from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 20th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $32.00 price objective on shares of WaFd in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered WaFd from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.25.

WaFd Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WAFD opened at $27.54 on Friday. WaFd has a 12-month low of $23.36 and a 12-month high of $34.07. The company has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a PE ratio of 10.47 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.42. WaFd had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 15.33%. The company had revenue of $171.99 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $170.74 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that WaFd will post 2.79 EPS for the current year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.78%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.54%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WAFD. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in WaFd during the first quarter worth approximately $194,000. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 373 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in WaFd during the fourth quarter valued at about $201,000. Diversified Trust Co acquired a new position in WaFd during the fourth quarter worth about $221,000. Finally, Teza Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in WaFd in the third quarter worth about $228,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.