HB Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD)

HB Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 11,179 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $319,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd increased its stake in WaFd by 983.5% in the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 1,116 shares of the bank’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,013 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in WaFd by 35.2% in the 1st quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 2,002 shares of the bank’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in WaFd by 12.7% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,239 shares of the bank’s stock worth $121,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC bought a new position in WaFd in the 4th quarter worth about $141,000. Finally, Summit Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of WaFd by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 6,987 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $225,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WAFD has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Stephens increased their price objective on WaFd from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. DA Davidson increased their price objective on WaFd from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on WaFd from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on WaFd from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.25.

WaFd Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of WAFD stock opened at $28.87 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a PE ratio of 10.98 and a beta of 0.84. WaFd, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.75 and a 1-year high of $38.62. The business has a 50-day moving average of $29.36 and a 200 day moving average of $28.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $186.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $184.47 million. WaFd had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 15.57%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that WaFd, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.06%.

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.