Royce & Associates LP Reduces Position in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Royce & Associates LP decreased its stake in shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 35.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,058 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 11,605 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in WaFd were worth $679,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp increased its position in WaFd by 5.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,969,790 shares of the bank’s stock worth $138,347,000 after buying an additional 195,845 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 10.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,759,135 shares of the bank’s stock worth $61,318,000 after purchasing an additional 159,750 shares during the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 21.5% during the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,432,523 shares of the bank’s stock worth $49,923,000 after purchasing an additional 253,044 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 7.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,225,248 shares of the bank’s stock worth $42,700,000 after purchasing an additional 84,155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of WaFd by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 736,564 shares of the bank’s stock worth $23,747,000 after purchasing an additional 28,849 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

WaFd Price Performance

Shares of WaFd stock opened at $27.66 on Friday. WaFd, Inc has a twelve month low of $25.79 and a twelve month high of $38.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.75 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $29.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.05.

WaFd Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.27 dividend. This is an increase from WaFd’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.90%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WAFD has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on WaFd from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on shares of WaFd in a report on Friday, January 17th. DA Davidson cut WaFd from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $32.00 in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on WaFd from $42.00 to $34.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.75.

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.