SG Americas Securities LLC Invests $194,000 in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,569 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $194,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WAFD. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of WaFd by 100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,644 shares of the bank’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 822 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in WaFd during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $80,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in WaFd during the first quarter valued at approximately $194,000. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC bought a new stake in WaFd in the second quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

WaFd Trading Up 1.3 %

WAFD opened at $34.39 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.08 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. WaFd, Inc has a 12 month low of $23.36 and a 12 month high of $37.49.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $389.98 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.43 million. WaFd had a return on equity of 9.65% and a net margin of 13.97%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that WaFd, Inc will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stephens lifted 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. DA Davidson lifted their target price on WaFd from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of WaFd in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on WaFd from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com cut WaFd from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.00.

WaFd Company 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.