WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) Given “Market Perform” Rating at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating restated by equities research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a research note issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $40.00 target price on the bank’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price target points to a potential upside of 10.59% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on WAFD. StockNews.com lowered WaFd from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Stephens lifted their price target on shares of WaFd from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, WaFd presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.50.

WaFd Stock Down 2.1 %

WAFD opened at $36.17 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.94 billion, a PE ratio of 14.58 and a beta of 0.83. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.32. 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 has a 52 week low of $23.36 and a 52 week high of $37.49.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.01. WaFd had a return on equity of 9.65% and a net margin of 13.97%. The firm had revenue of $389.98 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that WaFd will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of WaFd

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 531 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in WaFd by 100.0% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,305 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WaFd in the 2nd quarter worth $80,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in WaFd during the first quarter worth about $194,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.