Sei Investments Co. Acquires 103,312 Shares of WaFd, Inc. $WAFD

Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 148.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 172,709 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 103,312 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in WaFd were worth $5,423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its stake in WaFd by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 18,056 shares of the bank’s stock worth $578,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in WaFd by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 15,162 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $486,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the period. Baron Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in WaFd by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,720 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $274,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in WaFd by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,092 shares of the bank’s stock worth $131,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in WaFd by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 9,539 shares of the bank’s stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of WaFd from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. DA Davidson increased their price objective on WaFd from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on WaFd from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on WaFd from $30.50 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded WaFd from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.00.

WaFd Price Performance

Shares of WAFD opened at $37.67 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $37.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.42. WaFd, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.31 and a fifty-two week high of $39.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a PE ratio of 11.88 and a beta of 0.84.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.82 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $205.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $199.56 million. WaFd had a net margin of 18.47% and a return on equity of 8.98%. Equities analysts predict that WaFd, Inc. will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.07%.

WaFd Profile

Washington Federal, Inc, doing business as WaFd Bank, is a publicly traded bank holding company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Through its subsidiary, WaFd Bank, the company provides a range of banking and financial services to individuals, small-to-medium enterprises, and commercial clients. Established in 1917 as Ballard Savings & Loan in Seattle, the institution expanded over decades to serve customers across the Western United States under the Washington Federal name and has operated as a public company since the early 1980s.

WaFd Bank’s core offerings encompass deposit accounts such as checking, savings, money market, and certificates of deposit, alongside consumer and commercial lending products.