Quest Partners LLC Takes $1.09 Million Position in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 31,310 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,091,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. grew its position in WaFd by 5.7% during the first quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 6,887 shares of the bank’s stock worth $200,000 after buying an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in WaFd by 1.2% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 34,000 shares of the bank’s stock worth $972,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew 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 buying an additional 531 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its position 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 buying an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its position in WaFd by 35.1% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,797 shares of the bank’s stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 726 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Ryan Mauer sold 12,132 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.33, for a total value of $404,359.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 100,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,345,532.08. This represents a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

WaFd Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ WAFD opened at $35.92 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $35.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.09. WaFd, Inc has a fifty-two week low of $25.78 and a fifty-two week high of $38.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a PE ratio of 14.48 and a beta of 0.83.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last released its earnings results 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. WaFd had a return on equity of 9.44% and a net margin of 13.97%. The firm had revenue of $389.98 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $190.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that WaFd, Inc will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. WaFd’s payout ratio is 41.94%.

WaFd 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.