Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Acquires 7,445 Shares of WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its position in WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) by 20.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,030 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,445 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned about 0.05% of WaFd worth $1,420,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WAFD. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its holdings in WaFd by 21.5% in the 3rd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,432,523 shares of the bank’s stock worth $49,923,000 after acquiring an additional 253,044 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in WaFd by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,969,790 shares of the bank’s stock worth $138,347,000 after acquiring an additional 195,845 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in WaFd by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,759,135 shares of the bank’s stock worth $61,318,000 after acquiring an additional 159,750 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in WaFd by 28.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 428,504 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,933,000 after acquiring an additional 95,251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in WaFd by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,225,248 shares of the bank’s stock worth $42,700,000 after acquiring an additional 84,155 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WaFd Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of WAFD opened at $29.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. WaFd, Inc has a 1 year low of $25.78 and a 1 year high of $38.62. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.78. The firm has a market cap of $2.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.64 and a beta of 0.85.

WaFd Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from WaFd’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.65%. WaFd’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WAFD has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $38.00 target price on shares of WaFd in a report on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of WaFd from $42.00 to $34.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of WaFd from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. DA Davidson lowered shares of WaFd from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $32.00 in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of WaFd from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, WaFd currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.75.

WaFd 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.