New York State Teachers Retirement System Lowers Holdings in WaFd, Inc. $WAFD

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its position in shares of WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 49.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 63,494 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 63,363 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in WaFd were worth $1,994,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WAFD. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in WaFd by 399.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 333,712 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,689,000 after acquiring an additional 266,891 shares during the period. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP increased its position in WaFd by 373.8% during the 4th quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 287,947 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,223,000 after purchasing an additional 227,174 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in WaFd by 52.0% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 448,716 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,372,000 after purchasing an additional 153,556 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of WaFd by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,375,110 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $41,652,000 after purchasing an additional 145,646 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of WaFd by 1,533.5% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 146,578 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,440,000 after purchasing an additional 137,605 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

WaFd Price Performance

Shares of WAFD stock opened at $38.10 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $36.31 and its 200 day moving average is $33.87. WaFd, Inc. has a 1-year low of $26.31 and a 1-year high of $39.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market cap of $2.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.45 and a beta of 0.83.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $197.66 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $190.51 million. WaFd had a net margin of 18.25% and a return on equity of 8.94%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.17 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that WaFd, Inc. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. WaFd’s payout ratio is presently 35.29%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Kim E. Robison sold 22,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.28, for a total transaction of $776,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 116,099 shares in the company, valued at $4,095,972.72. The trade was a 15.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WAFD shares. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of WaFd from $30.50 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of WaFd from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of WaFd from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded WaFd from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.80.

WaFd Profile

Washington Federal, Inc, doing business as WaFd Bank, is a publicly traded bank holding company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Through its subsidiary, WaFd Bank, the company provides a range of banking and financial services to individuals, small-to-medium enterprises, and commercial clients. Established in 1917 as Ballard Savings & Loan in Seattle, the institution expanded over decades to serve customers across the Western United States under the Washington Federal name and has operated as a public company since the early 1980s.

WaFd Bank’s core offerings encompass deposit accounts such as checking, savings, money market, and certificates of deposit, alongside consumer and commercial lending products.