DA Davidson Cuts WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) Price Target to $37.00

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) had its target price reduced by DA Davidson from $40.00 to $37.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the bank’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also commented on WAFD. Zacks Research lowered shares of WaFd from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of WaFd from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.25.

WaFd Price Performance

Shares of WAFD opened at $33.88 on Wednesday. WaFd has a 1 year low of $26.31 and a 1 year high of $39.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $2.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.69 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50-day moving average of $36.83 and a 200-day moving average of $35.11.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.82 by ($0.01). WaFd had a net margin of 18.47% and a return on equity of 8.98%. The company had revenue of $205.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $199.56 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that WaFd will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Investors of record on Friday, August 21st were given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 21st. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.07%.

Institutional Trading of WaFd

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of WaFd during the first quarter worth about $1,055,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of WaFd by 28.1% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 905,863 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,444,000 after acquiring an additional 198,728 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in WaFd in the 2nd quarter valued at about $413,410,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in WaFd in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,315,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in WaFd in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,417,000. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

WaFd Company Profile

WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ: WAFD), formerly known as Washington Federal, is the holding company for WaFd Bank, a regional financial institution serving individuals, families, businesses and commercial real estate customers. The bank provides deposit accounts, residential and commercial real estate lending, consumer loans, business banking, treasury management and online and mobile banking services.

Founded in 1917, WaFd began as a savings and loan institution in Seattle and has expanded into a full-service regional bank.