Bridgeway Capital Management LLC Has $14.45 Million Stake in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD - Free Report) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 448,216 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 10,729 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.55% of WaFd worth $14,450,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WAFD. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of WaFd by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,696,480 shares of the bank's stock worth $119,175,000 after acquiring an additional 42,096 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of WaFd by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,774,081 shares of the bank's stock worth $57,196,000 after purchasing an additional 234,977 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 929,760 shares of the bank's stock valued at $29,975,000 after purchasing an additional 22,716 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in WaFd by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 736,564 shares of the bank's stock worth $23,747,000 after purchasing an additional 28,849 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. DA Davidson lowered shares of WaFd from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of WaFd from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th. Piper Sandler cut their target price 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 WaFd from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $29.00 price target on shares of WaFd in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $30.50.

WaFd Stock Up 1.5 %

WAFD stock traded up $0.44 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $29.04. The company had a trading volume of 513,896 shares, compared to its average volume of 528,718. The company has a 50 day moving average of $27.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. WaFd, Inc has a 1 year low of $23.75 and a 1 year high of $38.62. The company has a market capitalization of $2.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.38 and a beta of 0.85.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.05. WaFd had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 12.66%. The business had revenue of $179.79 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $184.17 million. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. This is an increase from WaFd's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. WaFd's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.75%.

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.