WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Monday morning,Zacks reports. Zacks Research also issued estimates for WaFd’s FY2027 earnings at $3.36 EPS.

WAFD has been the topic of several other research reports. Piper Sandler cut their price target on WaFd from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 1st. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on WaFd from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered WaFd from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.25.

WaFd Trading Down 0.8%

NASDAQ WAFD opened at $29.92 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. WaFd has a one year low of $26.31 and a one year high of $39.49. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a PE ratio of 9.44 and a beta of 0.89.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.82 by ($0.01). WaFd had a return on equity of 8.98% and a net margin of 18.47%.The business had revenue of $205.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $199.56 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that WaFd will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 21st were given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 21st. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio is 34.07%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WaFd

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WAFD. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in WaFd during the 2nd quarter worth $34,655,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in WaFd in the first quarter worth about $1,055,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in WaFd in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,315,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in WaFd in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,417,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in WaFd during the 2nd quarter valued at about $413,410,000. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

WaFd Company Profile

WaFd, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and the parent company of WaFd Bank. Founded in 1917 as Washington Federal, the company adopted the WaFd name in 2024. WaFd Bank provides banking and financial services to individuals, families, businesses and nonprofit organizations.

The bank offers deposit accounts, residential mortgage lending, home equity financing, commercial real estate loans, commercial and industrial lending, construction financing and consumer banking products.