WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD - Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Friday.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on WAFD. DA Davidson cut WaFd from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $35.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of WaFd from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of WaFd from $42.00 to $34.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $38.00 target price on shares of WaFd in a research note on Friday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $33.75.

WaFd Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WAFD traded up $1.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $26.32. The stock had a trading volume of 290,475 shares, compared to its average volume of 508,386. WaFd has a 52 week low of $23.91 and a 52 week high of $38.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.15 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.26.

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WaFd Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.27 dividend. This is an increase from WaFd's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. WaFd's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.77%.

Institutional Trading of WaFd

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in WaFd by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,420,004 shares of the bank's stock valued at $303,701,000 after acquiring an additional 166,931 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in WaFd by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,969,790 shares of the bank's stock worth $138,347,000 after buying an additional 195,845 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of WaFd by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,696,480 shares of the bank's stock valued at $119,175,000 after buying an additional 42,096 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of WaFd by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,774,081 shares of the bank's stock valued at $57,196,000 after acquiring an additional 234,977 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of WaFd by 10.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,759,135 shares of the bank's stock worth $61,318,000 after acquiring an additional 159,750 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

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.