WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) Announces $0.27 Quarterly Dividend

WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of 0.27 per share by the bank on Friday, September 4th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 21st.

WaFd has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 2 consecutive years. WaFd has a dividend payout ratio of 35.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect WaFd to earn $3.38 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.0%.

WaFd Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of WaFd stock traded down $0.44 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $37.62. The company had a trading volume of 85,071 shares, compared to its average volume of 625,906. The company’s 50-day moving average is $37.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.59. WaFd has a twelve month low of $26.31 and a twelve month high of $39.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $2.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.88 and a beta of 0.84.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by ($0.01). WaFd had a net margin of 18.47% and a return on equity of 8.98%. The company had revenue of $205.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $199.56 million. Analysts anticipate that WaFd will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on WAFD. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on WaFd from $30.50 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Zacks Research downgraded WaFd from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. DA Davidson upped their target price on WaFd from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded WaFd from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on WaFd from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, WaFd presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.00.

About WaFd

Washington Federal, Inc, doing business as WaFd Bank, is a publicly traded bank holding company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Through its subsidiary, WaFd Bank, the company provides a range of banking and financial services to individuals, small-to-medium enterprises, and commercial clients. Established in 1917 as Ballard Savings & Loan in Seattle, the institution expanded over decades to serve customers across the Western United States under the Washington Federal name and has operated as a public company since the early 1980s.

WaFd Bank’s core offerings encompass deposit accounts such as checking, savings, money market, and certificates of deposit, alongside consumer and commercial lending products.