First Trust Advisors LP Sells 29,354 Shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

First Trust Advisors LP cut its position in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD - Free Report) by 18.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 127,610 shares of the bank's stock after selling 29,354 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.16% of WaFd worth $4,114,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of WaFd in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,766,000. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of WaFd by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 47,174 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,521,000 after purchasing an additional 6,682 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of WaFd by 33.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 161,958 shares of the bank's stock worth $5,643,000 after purchasing an additional 40,499 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings 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. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in WaFd by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 447,621 shares of the bank's stock valued at $14,431,000 after buying an additional 19,117 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WAFD. DA Davidson downgraded shares of WaFd from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Stephens restated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of WaFd in a research report on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com raised WaFd from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price 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. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of WaFd from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $30.50.

WaFd Price Performance

NASDAQ WAFD traded down $0.21 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $28.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 400,677 shares, compared to its average volume of 526,117. 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 1 year low of $23.75 and a 1 year high of $38.62. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $27.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.30. The company has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.30 and a beta of 0.79.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.05. The company 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, equities research analysts predict that WaFd, Inc will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.27 dividend. This is an increase from WaFd's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. WaFd's payout ratio is currently 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.