Stock Repurchase Plan Announced by Webster Financial (NYSE:WBS) Board

Webster Financial (NYSE:WBS) declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $700.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 8.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WBS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Webster Financial from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Webster Financial from $80.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Webster Financial from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Webster Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Webster Financial from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Webster Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.73.

Webster Financial Trading Up 4.0 %

NYSE WBS opened at $49.71 on Friday. Webster Financial has a 12 month low of $39.34 and a 12 month high of $63.99. The company has a market capitalization of $8.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $48.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.40.

Webster Financial (NYSE:WBS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.38 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $704.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $708.46 million. Webster Financial had a net margin of 18.39% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Webster Financial will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Webster Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Webster Financial’s payout ratio is 36.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Webster Financial news, insider Daniel Bley sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.84, for a total transaction of $86,112.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 21,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,029,373.28. This trade represents a 7.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Laurence C. Morse sold 13,217 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.07, for a total value of $780,728.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,110,988.56. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,017 shares of company stock worth $1,326,280 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Webster Financial Company Profile

Webster Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Webster Bank, National Association that provides a range of financial products and services to individuals, families, and businesses in the United States. It operates through three segments: Commercial Banking, HSA Bank, and Consumer Banking.