Equities Analysts Issue Forecasts for WaFd, Inc’s FY2024 Earnings (NASDAQ:WAFD)

WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) – Research analysts at Zacks Research lifted their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for WaFd in a research report issued on Thursday, September 12th. Zacks Research analyst S. Shah now forecasts that the bank will earn $3.00 per share for the year, up from their previous forecast of $2.99. The consensus estimate for WaFd’s current full-year earnings is $3.00 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for WaFd’s Q4 2024 earnings at $0.67 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $0.71 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $3.02 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $0.90 EPS and Q3 2026 earnings at $0.89 EPS.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Stephens increased their price objective on WaFd from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on WaFd from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, WaFd presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.25.

WaFd Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ WAFD opened at $35.73 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.59 and a beta of 0.83. WaFd has a one year low of $23.36 and a one year high of $37.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.00.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.18. WaFd had a net margin of 14.13% and a return on equity of 9.58%. The business had revenue of $194.44 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $185.36 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.89 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis.

WaFd Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.54%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in shares of WaFd by 100.0% during the 2nd 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. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in WaFd in the 2nd quarter valued at about $80,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of WaFd in the 1st quarter worth approximately $194,000. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of WaFd by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 6,887 shares of the bank’s stock worth $200,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the period. Finally, Algert Global LLC purchased a new stake in shares of WaFd in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $200,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.