Zacks Research Comments on WaFd, Inc’s Q1 2026 Earnings (NASDAQ:WAFD)

WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) – Stock analysts at Zacks Research lifted their Q1 2026 earnings per share estimates for shares of WaFd in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, September 12th. Zacks Research analyst S. Shah now expects that the bank will post earnings of $0.87 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $0.86. The consensus estimate for WaFd’s current full-year earnings is $3.00 per share.

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

WAFD has been the subject of several other reports. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on WaFd from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Stephens lifted their target price 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, StockNews.com raised WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.25.

WaFd Stock Up 2.6 %

NASDAQ WAFD opened at $35.73 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $34.27 and a 200-day moving average of $30.04. 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 52 week low of $23.36 and a 52 week high of $37.49. 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 Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WaFd

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew 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 period. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in WaFd in the second quarter valued at about $80,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in WaFd in the first quarter valued at about $194,000. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. grew its stake in WaFd by 5.7% in the first quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 6,887 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $200,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares during the period. Finally, Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in WaFd in the second quarter valued at about $200,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.