Renaissance Technologies LLC Buys 59,500 Shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD - Free Report) by 427.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,429 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 59,500 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned about 0.09% of WaFd worth $2,367,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WAFD. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd grew its holdings in WaFd by 983.5% in the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 1,116 shares of the bank's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,013 shares during the period. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its stake in WaFd by 112.7% in the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the bank's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in WaFd by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,752 shares of the bank's stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in WaFd by 68.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its stake in WaFd by 136.7% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,638 shares of the bank's stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 2,101 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

WaFd Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ WAFD traded up $0.28 on Thursday, hitting $28.81. The company had a trading volume of 45,173 shares, compared to its average volume of 607,426. The business has a 50 day moving average of $27.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.47. WaFd, Inc has a 12-month low of $23.75 and a 12-month high of $38.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.28 and a beta of 0.79. 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 (NASDAQ:WAFD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The bank reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.05. WaFd had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 12.66%. The business had revenue of $179.79 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $184.17 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that WaFd, Inc will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.75%. This is an increase from WaFd's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. WaFd's 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.