Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Buys 4,367 Shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 10.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 45,710 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,367 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD’s holdings in WaFd were worth $1,474,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in WaFd by 152.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 469,704 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,143,000 after purchasing an additional 283,953 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of WaFd by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,774,081 shares of the bank’s stock worth $57,196,000 after buying an additional 234,977 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in WaFd during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,539,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in WaFd by 63.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 493,501 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,910,000 after buying an additional 191,855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in WaFd by 1.8% in the 4th 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. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WaFd Trading Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ WAFD opened at $29.04 on Friday. WaFd, Inc has a one year low of $23.75 and a one year high of $38.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a market capitalization of $2.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.38 and a beta of 0.85. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.18.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $179.79 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $184.17 million. WaFd had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 8.78%. Equities analysts forecast that WaFd, Inc will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.72%. This is a positive change from WaFd’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. WaFd’s payout ratio is presently 40.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on WAFD shares. DA Davidson lowered shares of 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 report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on WaFd from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com upgraded WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of WaFd in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on WaFd from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, WaFd presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.50.

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.