Davidson Investment Advisors Increases Stake in WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Davidson Investment Advisors raised its stake in WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD - Free Report) by 3.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 304,256 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 8,732 shares during the quarter. Davidson Investment Advisors owned approximately 0.37% of WaFd worth $8,696,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in WaFd in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,766,000. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in WaFd by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 47,174 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,521,000 after buying an additional 6,682 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in WaFd by 152.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 469,704 shares of the bank's stock valued at $15,143,000 after buying an additional 283,953 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC bought a new position in WaFd in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $708,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC bought a new position in WaFd in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $950,000. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of WaFd from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of WaFd in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of WaFd from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $30.50.

WaFd Trading Down 1.5%

NASDAQ:WAFD traded down $0.47 on Monday, reaching $30.74. 591,789 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 535,536. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.60 and a beta of 0.84. The company's 50 day moving average is $29.01 and its 200-day moving average is $29.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. WaFd, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.75 and a 1-year high of $38.62.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The bank reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.05. WaFd had a net margin of 15.13% and a return on equity of 8.74%. The company had revenue of $179.79 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $184.17 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that WaFd, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 23rd. WaFd's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.75%.

About WaFd

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.