WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) Downgraded by StockNews.com

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Thursday.

Separately, Stephens lifted their price objective on WaFd from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.25.

WaFd Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of WAFD opened at $34.04 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $34.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.11. WaFd has a 52-week low of $23.36 and a 52-week high of $37.49. The company has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.94 and a beta of 0.83.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.18. WaFd had a return on equity of 9.58% and a net margin of 14.13%. The firm had revenue of $194.44 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $185.36 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that WaFd will post 3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WaFd

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of WaFd by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,902,461 shares of the bank’s stock worth $229,408,000 after acquiring an additional 125,020 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of WaFd by 31.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,274,665 shares of the bank’s stock worth $36,430,000 after purchasing an additional 305,942 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of WaFd by 1.3% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 728,619 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,824,000 after purchasing an additional 9,262 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of WaFd by 2.2% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 606,140 shares of the bank’s stock worth $17,596,000 after purchasing an additional 12,910 shares during the period. Finally, Davidson Investment Advisors grew its stake in shares of WaFd by 4.2% during the second quarter. Davidson Investment Advisors now owns 279,791 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,996,000 after purchasing an additional 11,220 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

WaFd Company Profile

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.