WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) Plans $0.26 Quarterly Dividend

WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 15th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, August 23rd will be paid a dividend of 0.26 per share by the bank on Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 23rd.

WaFd has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.4% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. WaFd has a payout ratio of 33.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect WaFd to earn $3.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.3%.

WaFd Stock Performance

Shares of WAFD stock traded up $0.88 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $34.13. The stock had a trading volume of 244,003 shares, compared to its average volume of 411,350. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.89. WaFd has a twelve month low of $23.36 and a twelve month high of $36.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a PE ratio of 13.05 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.18. WaFd had a net margin of 14.13% and a return on equity of 9.58%. The company had revenue of $194.44 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $185.36 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.89 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that WaFd will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on WAFD. StockNews.com upgraded WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of WaFd from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Finally, Stephens boosted their target price on WaFd from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.25.

About WaFd

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.