Piper Sandler Has Lowered Expectations for WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) Stock Price

Key Points

• Piper Sandler lowered WaFd’s price target from $36 to $32 while maintaining a neutral rating, implying approximately 8.2% upside from the stock’s current price.
• Analyst sentiment is cautious: WaFd has an average “Hold” rating, with one Buy and four Hold ratings, and an average price target of $35.25.
• WaFd’s latest quarterly results narrowly missed earnings expectations, reporting $0.81 EPS versus $0.82 expected, although revenue exceeded estimates at $205.52 million.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD - Get Free Report) had its target price reduced by investment analysts at Piper Sandler from $36.00 to $32.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "neutral" rating on the bank's stock. Piper Sandler's price objective suggests a potential upside of 8.20% from the stock's current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of WaFd from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of WaFd from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their price objective on shares of WaFd from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, WaFd presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $35.25.

WaFd Stock Down 1.2%

WaFd stock opened at $29.57 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a PE ratio of 9.33 and a beta of 0.83. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $35.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.15. WaFd has a fifty-two week low of $26.31 and a fifty-two week high of $39.49.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.82 by ($0.01). WaFd had a return on equity of 8.98% and a net margin of 18.47%.The company had revenue of $205.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $199.56 million. Equities analysts anticipate that WaFd will post 3.22 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WaFd

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WaFd in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in WaFd by 3,620.0% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 930 shares of the bank's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 905 shares in the last quarter. Nykredit A S acquired a new stake in WaFd in the second quarter valued at $52,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new stake in WaFd in the second quarter valued at $230,000. Finally, Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of WaFd during the 2nd quarter worth $245,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

WaFd Company Profile

WaFd, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and the parent company of WaFd Bank. Founded in 1917 as Washington Federal, the company adopted the WaFd name in 2024. WaFd Bank provides banking and financial services to individuals, families, businesses and nonprofit organizations.

The bank offers deposit accounts, residential mortgage lending, home equity financing, commercial real estate loans, commercial and industrial lending, construction financing and consumer banking products.

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