WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Sell

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Thursday.

Separately, Stephens upped their target price on WaFd from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.25.

WaFd Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ WAFD traded up $0.16 on Thursday, hitting $34.10. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 368,098 shares, compared to its average volume of 439,295. The company’s 50-day moving average is $35.00 and its 200 day moving average is $30.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a PE ratio of 12.97 and a beta of 0.83. WaFd has a 1-year low of $23.36 and a 1-year high of $37.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $194.44 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $185.36 million. WaFd had a return on equity of 9.58% and a net margin of 14.13%. WaFd’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that WaFd will post 3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WaFd

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WAFD. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted 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 buying an additional 822 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in WaFd during the second quarter worth $80,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in WaFd during the first quarter worth $194,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in WaFd in the third quarter worth $194,000. Finally, Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

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.