Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 7,666 WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 7,666 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $253,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WAFD. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in WaFd by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 906,332 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,745,000 after purchasing an additional 11,031 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in shares of WaFd by 60.1% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 43,493 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,428,000 after acquiring an additional 16,323 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of WaFd by 120.1% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,329 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $455,000 after acquiring an additional 7,274 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of WaFd by 39.7% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 75,272 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,470,000 after acquiring an additional 21,388 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its holdings in shares of WaFd by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 23,904 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $785,000 after acquiring an additional 2,305 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

WaFd Price Performance

Shares of WAFD opened at $27.90 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.18 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $27.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.15. WaFd, Inc has a 12 month low of $23.36 and a 12 month high of $34.07.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 16th. The bank reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $166.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $180.45 million. WaFd had a return on equity of 11.19% and a net margin of 20.58%. The firm’s revenue was down 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.16 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that WaFd, Inc will post 2.58 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a positive change from WaFd’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. WaFd’s payout ratio is 30.50%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WAFD. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of WaFd in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on WaFd from $37.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of WaFd in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded WaFd from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st.

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.