Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in WaFd, Inc. $WAFD

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 2.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 38,863 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 801 shares during the quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in WaFd were worth $1,138,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Comerica Bank grew its position in WaFd by 0.5% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 69,180 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,977,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in WaFd by 3.5% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 13,892 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $397,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its position in WaFd by 12.7% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,239 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $121,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its position in WaFd by 35.2% during the first quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 2,002 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares during the period. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its position in WaFd by 4.7% during the first quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 12,164 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $348,000 after acquiring an additional 549 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at WaFd

In other WaFd news, Director Sean Singleton sold 1,004 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.71, for a total transaction of $31,836.84. Following the sale, the director owned 9,278 shares in the company, valued at $294,205.38. This represents a 9.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on WaFd from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on WaFd from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Stephens boosted their price objective on WaFd from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of WaFd in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on WaFd from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.25.

WaFd Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of WAFD opened at $29.40 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.18 and a beta of 0.88. 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 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $30.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.42.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $186.26 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $184.47 million. WaFd had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 15.57%. Sell-side analysts forecast that WaFd, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.06%.

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.