Great Lakes Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in WSFS Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WSFS)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in WSFS Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WSFS) by 179.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 169,563 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 108,968 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in WSFS Financial were worth $9,009,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WSFS. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of WSFS Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $18,167,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of WSFS Financial by 819.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 254,616 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,528,000 after buying an additional 226,933 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of WSFS Financial by 3.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,030,372 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $154,519,000 after buying an additional 87,781 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in WSFS Financial by 110.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 120,397 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,139,000 after purchasing an additional 63,284 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in WSFS Financial by 247.4% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 78,168 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,986,000 after purchasing an additional 55,668 shares during the last quarter. 88.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on WSFS shares. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $68.00 price objective on shares of WSFS Financial in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on WSFS Financial from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.75.

WSFS Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ WSFS opened at $50.57 on Thursday. WSFS Financial Co. has a fifty-two week low of $40.99 and a fifty-two week high of $62.75. The stock has a market cap of $2.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.44 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a fifty day moving average of $54.34 and a 200-day moving average of $54.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

WSFS Financial (NASDAQ:WSFS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The bank reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.13. WSFS Financial had a return on equity of 10.30% and a net margin of 18.77%. As a group, analysts predict that WSFS Financial Co. will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WSFS Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. WSFS Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.57%.

Insider Transactions at WSFS Financial

In other news, CEO Rodger Levenson sold 7,199 shares of WSFS Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.20, for a total value of $397,384.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 142,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,881,456. The trade was a 4.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.21% of the company’s stock.

WSFS Financial Profile

WSFS Financial Corporation operates as the savings and loan holding company for the Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB that provides various banking services in the United States. It operates through three segments: WSFS Bank, Cash Connect, and Wealth Management. It offers various deposit products, including savings accounts, demand deposits, interest-bearing demand deposits, money market deposit accounts, and certificates of deposit, as well as accepts jumbo certificates of deposit from individuals, businesses, and municipalities.