WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Zacks Research

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on WaFd from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on WaFd from $40.00 to $34.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Weiss Ratings lowered WaFd from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, October 19th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $31.00 target price on WaFd in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating. According to MarketBeat, WaFd has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.50.

WaFd Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:WAFD opened at $30.13 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a PE ratio of 9.39 and a beta of 0.90. WaFd has a 1 year low of $28.10 and a 1 year high of $39.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $31.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 15th. The bank reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.01. WaFd had a return on equity of 9.37% and a net margin of 18.04%. The company had revenue of $220.44 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $203.66 million. Analysts expect that WaFd will post 3.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WaFd

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in WaFd in the 2nd quarter valued at $413,410,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in WaFd during the second quarter valued at about $34,655,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in WaFd in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,489,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in WaFd in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $13,371,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of WaFd in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,561,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About WaFd

WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ: WAFD) is the parent company of WaFd Bank, a regional financial institution that provides banking and lending services to individuals, families, businesses and real estate investors. The bank offers deposit accounts, checking and savings products, residential mortgages, home equity loans, commercial real estate financing, business loans and construction lending.

WaFd Bank also provides treasury management and cash-management services for businesses, along with personal and commercial banking solutions through its branch network and digital banking platforms.