WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) Price Target Raised to $38.00

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) had its price objective raised by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $35.00 to $38.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “market perform” rating on the bank’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 7.83% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $34.00 target price on shares of WaFd in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of WaFd from $30.50 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of WaFd from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.80.

WaFd Price Performance

NASDAQ WAFD opened at $35.24 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $32.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.65. WaFd has a 52-week low of $26.31 and a 52-week high of $35.27. The company has a market cap of $2.67 billion, a PE ratio of 11.52 and a beta of 0.83.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 16th. The bank reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.09. WaFd had a net margin of 18.25% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The firm had revenue of $197.66 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $190.51 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.17 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that WaFd will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WaFd news, EVP Cathy E. Cooper sold 5,300 shares of WaFd stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.77, for a total value of $178,981.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 94,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,199,876.35. The trade was a 5.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of WaFd

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Baron Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of WaFd by 3.8% during the first quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,720 shares of the bank’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in shares of WaFd during the fourth quarter worth about $231,000. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of WaFd during the fourth quarter worth about $1,368,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of WaFd by 399.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 333,712 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,689,000 after purchasing an additional 266,891 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Man Group plc acquired a new position in WaFd during the fourth quarter worth about $277,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

WaFd Company Profile

Washington Federal, Inc, doing business as WaFd Bank, is a publicly traded bank holding company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Through its subsidiary, WaFd Bank, the company provides a range of banking and financial services to individuals, small-to-medium enterprises, and commercial clients. Established in 1917 as Ballard Savings & Loan in Seattle, the institution expanded over decades to serve customers across the Western United States under the Washington Federal name and has operated as a public company since the early 1980s.

WaFd Bank’s core offerings encompass deposit accounts such as checking, savings, money market, and certificates of deposit, alongside consumer and commercial lending products.