Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Cuts Stock Holdings in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lowered its stake in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 116,138 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 9,177 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned 0.14% of WaFd worth $3,319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its holdings in WaFd by 353.2% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 102,577 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,978,000 after purchasing an additional 79,942 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in WaFd by 94.4% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 34,046 shares of the bank’s stock worth $988,000 after purchasing an additional 16,534 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new stake in WaFd in the first quarter worth approximately $653,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in WaFd by 24.1% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 139,530 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,988,000 after purchasing an additional 27,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in WaFd by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,902,461 shares of the bank’s stock worth $229,408,000 after purchasing an additional 125,020 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on WAFD. StockNews.com upgraded shares of WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Stephens increased their price target on shares of WaFd from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, WaFd currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.25.

WaFd Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of WAFD stock opened at $34.45 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.10 and a beta of 0.83. WaFd, Inc has a one year low of $23.36 and a one year high of $37.49. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $35.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $194.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $185.36 million. WaFd had a net margin of 14.13% and a return on equity of 9.58%. The company’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that WaFd, Inc will post 3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 was Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.02%. WaFd’s payout ratio is 39.54%.

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.