Barclays PLC Purchases 9,300 Shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 171,258 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,300 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned about 0.21% of WaFd worth $5,520,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in WaFd by 152.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 469,704 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,143,000 after buying an additional 283,953 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,774,081 shares of the bank’s stock worth $57,196,000 after acquiring an additional 234,977 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of WaFd in the fourth quarter valued at $6,539,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in WaFd by 63.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 493,501 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,910,000 after purchasing an additional 191,855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in WaFd by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,420,004 shares of the bank’s stock worth $303,701,000 after purchasing an additional 166,931 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

WaFd Stock Performance

WaFd stock opened at $28.22 on Friday. WaFd, Inc has a fifty-two week low of $23.75 and a fifty-two week high of $38.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.00 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $27.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.61.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $179.79 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $184.17 million. WaFd had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 12.66%. On average, equities research analysts expect that WaFd, Inc will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. This is a positive change from WaFd’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson downgraded shares of WaFd from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $35.00 to $32.00 in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of WaFd from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on WaFd from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of WaFd in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, WaFd has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.50.

WaFd Company Profile

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.