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

WaFd, Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 15th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 23rd.

WaFd has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. WaFd has a dividend 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 Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WAFD traded up $0.88 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $34.13. 244,003 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 411,350. The company has a market cap of $2.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.05 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.11. WaFd has a 1 year low of $23.36 and a 1 year high of $36.52.

WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.18. WaFd had a return on equity of 9.58% and a net margin of 14.13%. The firm had revenue of $194.44 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $185.36 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.89 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that WaFd will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WAFD has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of WaFd from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 20th. Stephens lifted their price objective 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 Thursday, July 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.25.

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.