Northern Trust Corp Purchases 9,542 Shares of WSFS Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WSFS)

Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in WSFS Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WSFS) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 809,334 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,542 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.37% of WSFS Financial worth $43,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of WSFS Financial by 2,500.0% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 572 shares of the bank’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in WSFS Financial in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in WSFS Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new stake in WSFS Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $84,000. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in WSFS Financial by 804.4% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,863 shares of the bank’s stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on WSFS Financial from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $64.00 price target on shares of WSFS Financial in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, WSFS Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.75.

Insider Activity at WSFS Financial

In other news, CEO Rodger Levenson sold 7,199 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.20, for a total transaction of $397,384.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 142,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,881,456. The trade was a 4.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

WSFS Financial Price Performance

WSFS opened at $53.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.67. The firm has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.21 and a beta of 0.86. WSFS Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $42.21 and a 1 year high of $62.75.

WSFS Financial (NASDAQ:WSFS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.09. WSFS Financial had a net margin of 18.77% and a return on equity of 10.30%. The firm had revenue of $256.11 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $235.44 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.11 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that WSFS Financial Co. will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current year.

WSFS Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. This is a boost from WSFS Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. WSFS Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.28%.

WSFS Financial Company 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.