Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Buys Shares of 67,100 WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 67,100 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $2,163,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned 0.08% of WaFd at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WAFD. Rhino Investment Partners Inc boosted its holdings in WaFd by 344.3% in the fourth quarter. Rhino Investment Partners Inc now owns 454,343 shares of the bank's stock valued at $14,648,000 after purchasing an additional 352,076 shares during the last quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of WaFd in the 4th quarter valued at about $9,210,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of WaFd by 152.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 469,704 shares of the bank's stock worth $15,143,000 after buying an additional 283,953 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 234,977 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in WaFd during the fourth quarter worth about $6,539,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

WaFd Price Performance

WAFD traded down $0.36 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $28.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 328,319 shares, compared to its average volume of 536,446. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.12 and a beta of 0.85. WaFd, Inc has a twelve month low of $23.75 and a twelve month high of $38.62. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $28.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.36. 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 (NASDAQ:WAFD - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.05. The firm 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%. On average, equities research 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. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.79%. WaFd's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.