Blue Trust Inc. Acquires 531 Shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 80.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,188 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 531 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in WaFd were worth $41,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WAFD. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in WaFd by 100.0% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,644 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 822 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of WaFd by 515.8% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,558 shares of the bank’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,305 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of WaFd during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $80,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in WaFd in the 1st quarter valued at about $194,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WaFd during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $194,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WAFD shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of WaFd in a research report on Monday, October 21st. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of WaFd from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of WaFd from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of WaFd from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.00.

WaFd Price Performance

NASDAQ WAFD opened at $33.57 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.73 and a beta of 0.83. WaFd, Inc has a 52-week low of $24.66 and a 52-week high of $37.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.08.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $389.98 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $190.43 million. WaFd had a return on equity of 9.44% and a net margin of 13.97%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that WaFd, Inc will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 23rd were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. WaFd’s payout ratio is currently 41.94%.

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.