WaFd, Inc.

NasdaqGS:WAFD Stock Report

Market Cap: US$2.6b

WaFd Dividends and Buybacks

Dividend criteria checks 4/6

WaFd is a dividend paying company with a current yield of 3.03% that is well covered by earnings.

Key information

3.0%

Dividend yield

8.3%

Buyback Yield

Total Shareholder Yield11.4%
Future Dividend Yield3.1%
Dividend Growth6.0%
Next dividend pay daten/a
Ex dividend daten/a
Dividend per sharen/a
Payout ratio18%

Recent dividend and buyback updates

Recent updates

Seeking Alpha • Feb 09

WaFd: 7.3% Yielding Preferred Share Good For Income Investors

Summary WaFd's preferred shares offer a compelling 7.3% yield, now more attractive for income investors amid recent price declines. Net interest income has gradually risen for four consecutive quarters, supported by improved net interest spreads and benefits from the Luther Burbank merger. Loan balances declined 5.8% in 2025, while deposits remained essentially flat; the loan-to-deposit ratio has improved but remains elevated at 93%. Rising nonperforming assets and thin allowance coverage signal risks for common shares, but preferred shares remain insulated and attractive for income-focused portfolios. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha
Seeking Alpha • Mar 26

WaFd: Regional Bank With A 7.3% Yielding Preferred Share

Summary WaFd's preferred shares offer a 7.35% dividend yield, making them attractive for income investors despite recent value drops. The bank's net interest income has declined due to rising borrowing yields and falling asset yields, impacting profitability. The Luther Burbank merger improved WaFd's loan to deposit ratio, reducing dependence on costly external financing. Multifamily mortgage risks and low loan loss allowances are concerns, but preferred dividends remain secure with potential for capital appreciation. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha
Seeking Alpha • Nov 05

WaFd: Preferred Shares Still Offering Attractive Income At 6.7% Yield

Summary WaFd's merger with Luther Burbank Corporation has improved its loan-to-deposit ratio and reduced external borrowing, enhancing future net interest income and earnings potential. Despite the positive merger impact, WaFd faces risks from high loan-to-deposit ratios and lower-than-average allowance for credit losses, which could pressure earnings. WaFd's preferred shares offer an attractive 6.7% yield and trade at 73% of their call price, providing income and potential capital appreciation. I recommend WaFd's preferred shares for income investors, given their seniority to common shares and insulation from the bank's loan performance challenges. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha
Seeking Alpha • Jul 24

WaFd: Regional Bank Offering 7.6% Yielding Preferred Dividend

Summary WaFd, a regional bank, experienced a significant increase in share price after recent earnings. Financial performance showed growth in net interest income but volatility in some metrics, with risks related to loan losses. Stability in loan and deposit growth, but risks include inadequate credit loss allowance and concentration in certain loan types. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha
Analysis Article • Jan 17

Here's Why WaFd (NASDAQ:WAFD) Has Caught The Eye Of Investors

It's common for many investors, especially those who are inexperienced, to buy shares in companies with a good story...
Analysis Article • Sep 25

Here's Why We Think Washington Federal (NASDAQ:WAFD) Is Well Worth Watching

The excitement of investing in a company that can reverse its fortunes is a big draw for some speculators, so even...
Analysis Article • Jun 20

Here's Why We Think Washington Federal (NASDAQ:WAFD) Might Deserve Your Attention Today

Investors are often guided by the idea of discovering 'the next big thing', even if that means buying 'story stocks...
Seeking Alpha • Oct 13

Washington Federal GAAP EPS of $1.07 beats by $0.16, revenue of $173.62M misses by $0.48M

Washington Federal press release (NASDAQ:WAFD): Q4 GAAP EPS of $1.07 beats by $0.16. Net interest income of $173.62M
Seeking Alpha • Aug 31

Washington Federal promotes chief risk officer to CFO

Washington Federal (NASDAQ:WAFD), the parent company of Washington Federal Bank, will promote Kelli Holz, currently the its chief risk officer, to chief financial officer as of Jan. 1, 2023, the company said Wednesday. She'll succeed Vincent Beatty, who announced in January 2022 that he'll retire at the end of the year. Holz is a certified public accountant and certified anti-money laundering specialist and has 34 years of finance and risk experience in various leadership roles. She was controller and interim CFP at Horizon Bank in Bellingham, Washington,  before that institution was acquired by Washington Federal Bank in 2010. In December 2021, Washington Federal Bank N.A. said the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency terminated the February 2018 consent order issued against WaFD bank for Anti-Money Laundering and Bank Secrecy Act deficiencies.
Seeking Alpha • Aug 19

Operational Execution And Strategic Risk-Taking Is Benefitting Washington Federal Meaningfully

WaFed posted strong fiscal third quarter results, as the company has seen both a sharper-than-expected improvement in NIM and better operational leverage. Construction loan growth has been exceptional, and while this is a higher-yielding growth opportunity in key strategic markets, it's also a riskier lending category. Management has done a better job of managing expenses, building credibility for its sub-50% ER target, but improving the funding base is still a must-do. WaFed looks well-positioned to benefit from a resurgent "Main Street banking" environment, and double-digit growth over the next five years can support a fair value above $40. Allocating capital and managing risk are critical duties for bank managers, and I think Washington Federal (WAFD) ("WaFed") has been doing a better job of it than I'd expected when I last wrote about the company. While I liked WaFed and saw improvement, I didn't think there was quite enough undervaluation to merit a bullish stance. Since then, the shares are down slightly, but have outperformed smaller regional peers by about 5%. WaFed still doesn't look like a remarkably cheap bank, and there are some risks to the outlook (including management's own guidance for slowing loan growth). The company has made good progress on costs, though, and I can see a clearer path now toward a higher-quality, lower-cost deposit base to support a quality, growing loan portfolio. An economic slowdown over the next 12 to 18 months is certainly a risk (particularly in key states like Texas), but I do lean more positively on this under-followed company. Going Risk-On With The Loan Portfolio One of the more striking changes at WaFed, particularly in the last quarter, is the company's rapid shift toward construction loan underwriting. Construction loan originations rose 53% sequentially in the fiscal third quarter (calendar second quarter) and made up almost 40% of total originations. Not surprisingly, construction loan balances grew significantly, up 24% qoq on a gross basis and 16% on a net basis. This isn't wholly surprising, as WaFed has long had above-average exposure to construction lending, but it does at least help explain how the company has managed to significantly exceed net interest margin improvement estimates (up 40bp yoy and 32bp qoq in the last quarter). Construction loans are typically among the highest-yielding loan categories, and deploying capital to this category is not only a good way to leverage construction growth in states like Arizona, Nevada, and Texas, but also quickly boost average loan yields. This also fits in with a multiyear strategy to shift more and more lending toward commercial lines. Less than 50% of WaFed's lending was commercial in 2014, but that percentage is now close to 70%, and about 85% of FQ3 originations were in commercial categories. Of course, this strategy also carries risk. Construction loans typically default at higher rates than other categories, and while WaFed's construction portfolio looks very strong today from a credit quality standpoint, a sudden downturn in the economy is a risk. This isn't management's first rodeo and I'm not trying to overstate the risks here, but I would just note that banking doesn't typically offer "free lunches", so there are risks tied to pursuing faster-growing, higher-yielding lending categories. Funding Costs Are Still A Concern, But Improving Customer Service Helps Going back to the start of the year, one of my main concerns for the banking sector was that deposit betas would end up coming in higher than expected for this next phase of the cycle - meaning that as rates rise, banks would have a harder time hanging on to low-cost deposits and would have to pursue more expensive sources of funding. There are a few other issues here as it pertains to WaFed. First, the bank has never been especially good at attracting sticky non-interest-bearing deposits (the cheapest funding you can get). While there has been substantial improvement over the years - NIB deposits were 9% of the total years ago and are now 20% - the bank is still below peer-group norms. Another issue is the high loan/deposit ratio - 97.5% on an average balance basis exiting the last quarter. Between a lack of NIB and a high LDR, WaFed will have to turn to more expensive funding sources to support ongoing loan growth, and that will pressure the bank's NIM leverage. That explains, at least in part, why this bank has fairly average rate sensitivity, but as the rate hike cycle is close to ending, that's not much of a drawback. There is evidence of improvement, and I don't think that's trivial. Net Promoter Scores (a consumer satisfaction metric that basically measures how likely a customer is to recommend a business) are an underappreciated metric in the banking sector, as banks with high scores (like First Republic (FRC) and Cullen Frost (CFR)) typically have better deposit bases, better service penetration, and overall more profitable operations. WaFed's NPS has improved from 17 in 2017 to 48 in 2021, and while progress on growing NIBs has been slow, I do think this is a positive indicator not only for deposit quality, but WaFed's ability to generate fee income from its customer base. The Outlook Quite a bit has gone right, and better than I'd expected, for WaFed since my last update. While loan growth has been slower than I'd expected, NIM improvement has been much better and the company has done an excellent job of controlling costs and generating positive operating leverage (FQ3 revenue grew 12% qoq on a 1% decline in reported expenses). With that, the bank's long-term target of a sub-50% efficiency ratio is looking a lot more credible than I previously thought.

Stability and Growth of Payments

Fetching dividends data

Stable Dividend: WAFD's dividends per share have been stable in the past 10 years.

Growing Dividend: WAFD's dividend payments have increased over the past 10 years.

Dividend Yield vs Market

WaFd Dividend Yield vs Market
How does WAFD dividend yield compare to the market?
SegmentDividend Yield
Company (WAFD)3.0%
Market Bottom 25% (US)1.4%
Market Top 25% (US)4.2%
Industry Average (Banks)2.4%
Analyst forecast (WAFD) (up to 3 years)3.1%

Notable Dividend: WAFD's dividend (3.03%) is higher than the bottom 25% of dividend payers in the US market (1.39%).

High Dividend: WAFD's dividend (3.03%) is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the US market (4.21%).

Current Payout to Shareholders

Earnings Coverage: With its low payout ratio (17.7%), WAFD's dividend payments are well covered by earnings.

Future Payout to Shareholders

Future Dividend Coverage: Insufficient data to determine if a dividend will be paid in 3 years or that it will be covered by earnings.

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Company Analysis and Financial Data Status

DataLast Updated (UTC time)
Company Analysis2026/05/07 14:55
End of Day Share Price 2026/05/07 00:00
Earnings2026/03/31
Annual Earnings2025/09/30

Data Sources

The data used in our company analysis is from S&P Global Market Intelligence LLC. The following data is used in our analysis model to generate this report. Data is normalised which can introduce a delay from the source being available.

PackageDataTimeframeExample US Source *
Company Financials10 years
  • Income statement
  • Cash flow statement
  • Balance sheet
Analyst Consensus Estimates+3 years
  • Forecast financials
  • Analyst price targets
Market Prices30 years
  • Stock prices
  • Dividends, Splits and Actions
Ownership10 years
  • Top shareholders
  • Insider trading
Management10 years
  • Leadership team
  • Board of directors
Key Developments10 years
  • Company announcements

* Example for US securities, for non-US equivalent regulatory forms and sources are used.

Unless specified all financial data is based on a yearly period but updated quarterly. This is known as Trailing Twelve Month (TTM) or Last Twelve Month (LTM) Data. Learn more.

Analysis Model and Snowflake

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Learn about the world class team who designed and built the Simply Wall St analysis model.

Industry and Sector Metrics

Our industry and section metrics are calculated every 6 hours by Simply Wall St, details of our process are available on Github.

Analyst Sources

WaFd, Inc. is covered by 17 analysts. 4 of those analysts submitted the estimates of revenue or earnings used as inputs to our report. Analysts submissions are updated throughout the day.

AnalystInstitution
Bruce HartingBarclays
Michael DianaCantor Fitzgerald & Co.
Jeffrey RulisD.A. Davidson & Co.