HighTower Advisors LLC Invests $237,000 in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new position in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 6,777 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of WaFd by 1.2% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 34,000 shares of the bank’s stock worth $972,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of WaFd by 1.3% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 728,619 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,824,000 after buying an additional 9,262 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of WaFd during the second quarter valued at $80,000. Davidson Investment Advisors boosted its stake in WaFd by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Davidson Investment Advisors now owns 279,791 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,996,000 after purchasing an additional 11,220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of WaFd by 27.9% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 16,639 shares of the bank’s stock worth $476,000 after purchasing an additional 3,629 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WAFD has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of WaFd in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on WaFd from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of WaFd from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, WaFd presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other WaFd news, EVP Ryan Mauer sold 12,132 shares of WaFd stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.33, for a total value of $404,359.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 2.25% of the company’s stock.

WaFd Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WAFD opened at $32.93 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.68 billion, a PE ratio of 13.28 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a fifty day moving average of $35.55 and a 200-day moving average of $33.75. WaFd, Inc has a twelve month low of $25.78 and a twelve month high of $38.62.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.01. WaFd had a return on equity of 9.44% and a net margin of 13.97%. The business had revenue of $389.98 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.43 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that WaFd, Inc will post 2.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.94%.

WaFd Profile

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.