Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases 5,300 Shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 15.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 39,300 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,300 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in WaFd were worth $1,370,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of WAFD. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in WaFd by 80.8% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,188 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 531 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position 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 last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in WaFd by 515.8% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,558 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 1,305 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in WaFd in the second quarter valued at approximately $80,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in WaFd in the first quarter valued at approximately $194,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on WAFD shares. DA Davidson boosted their price target on WaFd from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of WaFd in a research report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of WaFd from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of WaFd from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of WaFd from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.00.

WaFd Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ WAFD opened at $33.57 on Friday. WaFd, Inc has a 12-month low of $24.66 and a 12-month high of $37.49. The stock has a market cap of $2.73 billion, a PE ratio of 13.54 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a 50-day moving average of $35.26 and a 200 day moving average of $31.69.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $389.98 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.43 million. WaFd had a net margin of 13.97% and a return on equity of 9.44%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that WaFd, Inc will post 2.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WaFd Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.