Deutsche Bank AG Grows Position in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD - Free Report) by 60.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 56,886 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 21,334 shares during the quarter. Deutsche Bank AG owned about 0.07% of WaFd worth $1,834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,428 shares of the bank's stock valued at $368,000 after purchasing an additional 1,444 shares during the last quarter. Crestline Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of WaFd in the fourth quarter worth about $258,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of WaFd by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 8,309 shares of the bank's stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 1,443 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in WaFd by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 448,216 shares of the bank's stock valued at $14,450,000 after buying an additional 10,729 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in WaFd during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,210,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on WAFD shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered 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. DA Davidson lowered shares of WaFd from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of WaFd in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of WaFd from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $30.50.

WaFd Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of WaFd stock traded up $0.17 during trading on Thursday, hitting $28.64. The stock had a trading volume of 497,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 537,340. WaFd, Inc has a 12 month low of $23.75 and a 12 month high of $38.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $28.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.58. The stock has a market cap of $2.30 billion, a PE ratio of 13.20 and a beta of 0.85.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $179.79 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $184.17 million. WaFd had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 12.66%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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 will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%. WaFd's payout ratio is 40.75%.

WaFd 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.