WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,724,000 shares, an increase of 74.0% from the May 31st total of 990,800 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 396,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.4 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WaFd

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in WaFd by 21.7% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 7,322 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,305 shares during the last quarter. EMC Capital Management raised its position in WaFd by 124.4% during the 1st quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 9,388 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 5,204 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank raised its position in WaFd by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 54,377 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,579,000 after purchasing an additional 1,694 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new position in WaFd during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $653,000. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in WaFd by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 69,092 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,006,000 after purchasing an additional 790 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

WaFd Trading Up 3.8 %

NASDAQ WAFD opened at $28.58 on Friday. WaFd has a 1-year low of $23.36 and a 1-year high of $34.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $27.73 and a 200-day moving average of $28.69. The firm has a market cap of $2.33 billion, a PE ratio of 10.87 and a beta of 0.85.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.42. WaFd had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 15.33%. The company had revenue of $171.99 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.74 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. WaFd’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that WaFd will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 23rd. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on WAFD shares. StockNews.com cut WaFd from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on WaFd from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 20th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $32.00 price objective on shares of WaFd in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of WaFd in a report on Thursday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.25.

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.