Hennessy Advisors Inc. Sells 9,000 Shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 8.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 95,000 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 9,000 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in WaFd were worth $3,063,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in WaFd by 80.8% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,188 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 531 shares during the period. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 112.7% during the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the bank’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 701 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in WaFd by 100.0% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,644 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 822 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in WaFd by 515.8% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,558 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in WaFd by 60.1% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,904 shares of the bank’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 715 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on WAFD shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of WaFd in a report on Monday, October 21st. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of WaFd from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of WaFd from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of WaFd in a research note on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.50.

WaFd Trading Down 2.5 %

WAFD opened at $30.25 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $34.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.20 and a beta of 0.87. WaFd, Inc has a fifty-two week low of $25.78 and a fifty-two week high of $38.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $389.98 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $190.43 million. WaFd had a net margin of 13.97% and a return on equity of 9.44%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that WaFd, Inc will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.44%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.94%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Ryan Mauer sold 12,132 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.33, for a total value of $404,359.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 100,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,345,532.08. The trade was a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.46% 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.