WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) Shares Bought by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 15.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 158,426 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,600 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in WaFd were worth $5,521,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new position in WaFd in the 1st quarter worth about $653,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in WaFd by 24.1% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 139,530 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,988,000 after buying an additional 27,100 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in WaFd by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,902,461 shares of the bank’s stock worth $229,408,000 after buying an additional 125,020 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in WaFd by 618.6% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 47,972 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,371,000 after buying an additional 41,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC purchased a new stake in WaFd during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,823,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on WAFD shares. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on WaFd from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of WaFd in a research note 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, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on WaFd from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WaFd presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Ryan Mauer sold 12,132 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 2.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

WaFd Price Performance

WAFD stock opened at $37.11 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a PE ratio of 14.96 and a beta of 0.83. WaFd, Inc has a 1 year low of $25.78 and a 1 year high of $38.62.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $389.98 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.43 million. WaFd had a return on equity of 9.44% and a net margin of 13.97%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.72 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that WaFd, Inc will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.80%. WaFd’s payout ratio is 41.94%.

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.