Cooke & Bieler LP Boosts Stock Holdings in WSFS Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WSFS)

Cooke & Bieler LP increased its position in shares of WSFS Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WSFS) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 782,767 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,414 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP’s holdings in WSFS Financial were worth $41,588,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WSFS. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in WSFS Financial in the third quarter valued at about $718,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in WSFS Financial by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 317,254 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,856,000 after buying an additional 10,915 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in WSFS Financial by 47.9% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 114,154 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,821,000 after buying an additional 36,990 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in WSFS Financial by 30.6% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 36,773 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,875,000 after buying an additional 8,617 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in WSFS Financial by 110.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 120,397 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,139,000 after buying an additional 63,284 shares in the last quarter. 88.49% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Transactions at WSFS Financial

In other news, CEO Rodger Levenson sold 7,199 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.20, for a total transaction of $397,384.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 142,780 shares in the company, valued at $7,881,456. This represents a 4.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

WSFS Financial Stock Down 3.7 %

WSFS stock opened at $50.54 on Tuesday. WSFS Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $40.99 and a 52-week high of $62.75. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $54.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.06. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $2.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.43 and a beta of 1.06.

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

WSFS Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. WSFS Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.57%.

About WSFS Financial

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.