Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD - Free Report) by 48.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,666 shares of the bank's stock after selling 16,295 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in WaFd were worth $616,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WAFD. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its stake in shares of WaFd by 353.2% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 102,577 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,978,000 after buying an additional 79,942 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in WaFd by 94.4% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 34,046 shares of the bank's stock worth $988,000 after purchasing an additional 16,534 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of WaFd during the 1st quarter valued at about $653,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in WaFd by 24.1% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 139,530 shares of the bank's stock valued at $3,988,000 after buying an additional 27,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of WaFd by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,902,461 shares of the bank's stock valued at $229,408,000 after acquiring an additional 125,020 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction of $404,359.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 100,376 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,345,532.08. The trade was a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.25% of the company's stock.

WaFd Price Performance

Shares of WAFD stock traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $36.96. The stock had a trading volume of 307,164 shares, compared to its average volume of 480,778. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.90 and a beta of 0.83. WaFd, Inc has a one year low of $25.78 and a one year high of $38.58. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $35.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.34.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $389.98 million for 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 in the previous year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that WaFd, Inc will post 2.82 EPS for the current year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. WaFd's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WAFD shares. DA Davidson raised their target price 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. Piper Sandler cut their target price on WaFd from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of WaFd in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded WaFd from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $38.00.

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.