WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) shares reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $33.78 and last traded at $33.5510, with a volume of 21564 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.42.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on WAFD shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of WaFd from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on WaFd from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of WaFd in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.00.

WaFd Trading Up 0.1%

The company has a market capitalization of $2.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.69 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The bank reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. WaFd had a net margin of 16.02% and a return on equity of 8.40%. The business had revenue of $187.62 million for the quarter. Sell-side analysts expect that WaFd, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 21st. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. WaFd’s payout ratio is presently 40.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling at WaFd

In other news, CEO Brent J. Beardall bought 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $16.85 per share, with a total value of $50,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 6,000 shares in the company, valued at $101,100. This represents a 100.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of WaFd

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 124.3% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,107,097 shares of the bank’s stock worth $31,641,000 after acquiring an additional 613,596 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in WaFd by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 875,079 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,010,000 after purchasing an additional 42,653 shares in the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC raised its position in WaFd by 99.9% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 33,571 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $983,000 after purchasing an additional 16,780 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in WaFd by 20.7% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 9,377 shares of the bank’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 1,608 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP boosted its stake in WaFd by 1.7% in the first quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,531,327 shares of the bank’s stock worth $43,765,000 after purchasing an additional 24,959 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

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.