Rafferty Asset Management LLC Purchases 16,942 Shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD - Free Report) by 18.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 107,324 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 16,942 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.13% of WaFd worth $3,460,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WAFD. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of WaFd by 33.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 161,958 shares of the bank's stock valued at $5,643,000 after acquiring an additional 40,499 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of WaFd by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 26,463 shares of the bank's stock worth $954,000 after purchasing an additional 1,669 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of WaFd by 81.2% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,091 shares of the bank's stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 4,522 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of WaFd by 68.4% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,000 shares of the bank's stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 812 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of WaFd by 34.5% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,762 shares of the bank's stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 965 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WAFD. 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. DA Davidson lowered WaFd from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $32.00 in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on WaFd from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of WaFd from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of WaFd from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $30.50.

WaFd Price Performance

Shares of WAFD stock opened at $29.92 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.94. The company has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.79 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. WaFd, Inc has a twelve month low of $23.75 and a twelve month high of $38.62.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The bank reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $179.79 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $184.17 million. WaFd had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 8.78%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that WaFd, Inc will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. WaFd's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.

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