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

WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 12th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of 0.26 per share by the bank on Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd.

WaFd has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.4% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 14 years. WaFd has a dividend payout ratio of 36.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect WaFd to earn $3.27 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 31.8%.

WaFd Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WAFD traded down $0.19 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $36.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 334,627 shares, compared to its average volume of 448,723. WaFd has a 1 year low of $25.78 and a 1 year high of $38.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $35.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.25. The firm has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.91 and a beta of 0.83.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.01. WaFd had a return on equity of 9.44% and a net margin of 13.97%. The business had revenue of $389.98 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $190.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. Research analysts forecast that WaFd will post 2.83 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on WaFd from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of WaFd in a report on Monday, October 21st. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of WaFd from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Stephens raised 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of WaFd from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Ryan Mauer sold 12,132 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.33, for a total transaction of $404,359.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 100,376 shares in the company, valued at $3,345,532.08. This trade represents a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.25% 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.