24,781 Shares in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) Purchased by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 24,781 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $708,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of WaFd by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,420,004 shares of the bank's stock worth $303,701,000 after acquiring an additional 166,931 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in WaFd by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,696,480 shares of the bank's stock worth $119,175,000 after purchasing an additional 42,096 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in WaFd by 15.3% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP grew its position in WaFd by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,506,368 shares of the bank's stock worth $48,565,000 after purchasing an additional 73,845 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in WaFd by 2.5% in 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WAFD. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of WaFd from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen raised WaFd from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Finally, Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of WaFd in a report on Monday, April 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, WaFd currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $30.50.

WaFd Stock Performance

Shares of WAFD stock traded down $0.31 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $28.79. The stock had a trading volume of 387,665 shares, compared to its average volume of 537,231. The firm has a market cap of $2.31 billion, a PE ratio of 13.27 and a beta of 0.85. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $28.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. WaFd, Inc has a fifty-two week low of $23.75 and a fifty-two week 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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.05. WaFd had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 8.78%. The firm had revenue of $179.79 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $184.17 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that WaFd, Inc will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.75%. 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.