Washington Federal (WAFD) Short Interest Ratio & Short Volume

Short interest is the volume of Washington Federal shares that have been sold short but have not yet been closed out or covered. As of May 15th, investors have sold 3,390,000 shares of WAFD short. 5.27% of Washington Federal's shares are currently sold short. Learn More on Washington Federal's current short interest.

The short interest ratio, also known as the "days to cover ratio", is calculated by dividing the number of shares of a stock sold short divided by its average trading volume. A short interest ratio ranging between 1 and 4 generally indicates strong positive sentiment about a stock and a lack of short sellers. A short interest ratio of 10 or greater indicates strong pessimism about a stock. WAFD shares currently have a short interest ratio of 3.0. Learn More on Washington Federal's short interest ratio.

As of the most recent reporting period, the following institutional investors, funds, and major shareholders have reported short positions of Washington Federal: Susquehanna International Group LLP, and PEAK6 Investments LLC. These positions are disclosed in Form 13F filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Companies that have a short interest as a percentage of float below 10% indicates positive investor sentiment and few short sellers. Stocks with a short interest percentage above 10% is considered high, suggesting some investors are pessimistic about the stock. Companies with a short interest percentage of 20% or more indicates widespread negative sentiment. 5.27% of Washington Federal's floating shares are currently sold short.

Washington Federal saw a drop in short interest in the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totaling 3,390,000 shares, a drop of 8.6% from the previous total of 3,710,000 shares. Changes in short volume can be used to identify positive and negative investor sentiment. Investors that short sell a stock are betting that its price will decline in the future. An increase in short sale volume suggests bearish (negative) sentiment among investors. A decrease on short sale volume suggests bullish (positive) sentiment.

Washington Federal currently has issued a total of 65,790,000 shares. Some of Washington Federal's outstanding shares are available for trading, while others are subject to various restrictions. The public float, also referred to as floating shares or "the float", are shares that publicly owned, unrestricted and available to trade on the open market. Washington Federal currently has a public float of 64,350,000 shares.

5.27% of Washington Federal's shares are currently sold short. Here is how the short interest of companies in the industry of "national commercial banks" compare to Washington Federal: WSFS Financial Co. (2.12%), Northwest Bancshares, Inc. (8.62%), Banc of California, Inc. (2.48%), Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (4.43%), The Bancorp, Inc. (4.76%), First Financial Bancorp. (2.34%), First Merchants Co. (1.19%), Fulton Financial Co. (4.32%), WesBanco, Inc. (3.24%), Simmons First National Co. (2.87%),

As of the most recent reporting period, the following stocks had the largest short interest positions: Enbridge Inc. ($4.29 billion), T-Mobile US, Inc. ($4.17 billion), Charter Communications, Inc. ($3.07 billion), Occidental Petroleum Co. ($2.81 billion), Moderna, Inc. ($2.37 billion), Coinbase Global, Inc. ($2.27 billion), T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. ($1.98 billion), Verisk Analytics, Inc. ($1.94 billion), Extra Space Storage Inc. ($1.88 billion), and Xylem Inc. ($1.61 billion). View all of the most shorted stocks.

Short selling WAFD is an investing strategy that aims to generate trading profit from Washington Federal as its price is falling. WAFD shares are trading down $0.34 today. To short a stock, an investor borrows shares, sells them and buys the shares back on the public market later to return it to the lender. Short sellers are betting that a stock will decline in price. If the stock does drop after selling, the short seller buys it back at a lower price and returns it to the lender. The difference between the sell price and the buy price is the trader's profit.

A short squeeze for Washington Federal occurs when it has a large amount of short interest and its stock increases in price. This forces short sellers to cover their short interest positions by buying actual shares of WAFD, which in turn drives the price of the stock up even further.

Short interest is typically published by a stock exchange once per month. However, NASDAQ publishes a report for U.S. stocks, including WAFD, twice per month. The most recent reporting period available is May, 15 2023.