WaFd, Inc. (WAFD) – What Are Brokerages Thinking About This Stock?

WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the five analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $32.50.

WAFD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings lowered WaFd from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, October 19th. DA Davidson set a $31.00 price objective on shares of WaFd in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on WaFd from $40.00 to $34.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of WaFd from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered WaFd from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday.

WaFd Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of WAFD stock opened at $29.43 on Friday. WaFd has a twelve month low of $28.10 and a twelve month high of $39.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $31.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.17 and a beta of 0.90.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 15th. The bank reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.01. WaFd had a net margin of 18.04% and a return on equity of 9.37%. The company had revenue of $220.44 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $203.66 million. Research analysts forecast that WaFd will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 21st. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.64%.

WaFd News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting WaFd this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Zacks reduced forecasts for multiple quarters in fiscal 2027 and 2028. Its FY2028 EPS estimate fell to $3.32 from $3.53, while several quarterly estimates were also lowered. WaFd earnings estimate revisions
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks Research recently downgraded WaFd from “Strong Buy” to “Hold,” reinforcing the more cautious outlook. Zacks Research ratings

Institutional Trading of WaFd

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of WaFd during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,655,000. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in shares of WaFd in the second quarter valued at about $1,315,000. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its position in shares of WaFd by 21.6% during the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 338,027 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,117,000 after buying an additional 60,135 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in WaFd during the second quarter worth $1,417,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in WaFd in the 2nd quarter valued at about $413,410,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

WaFd Company Profile

WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ: WAFD) is the parent company of WaFd Bank, a regional financial institution that provides banking and lending services to individuals, families, businesses and real estate investors. The bank offers deposit accounts, checking and savings products, residential mortgages, home equity loans, commercial real estate financing, business loans and construction lending.

WaFd Bank also provides treasury management and cash-management services for businesses, along with personal and commercial banking solutions through its branch network and digital banking platforms.