Arizona State Retirement System Raises Stock Position in Webster Financial Co. (NYSE:WBS)

Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Webster Financial Co. (NYSE:WBS) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 49,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 372 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Webster Financial were worth $2,747,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WBS. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Webster Financial during the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Webster Financial by 88.1% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Webster Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Webster Financial by 45.9% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,398 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Webster Financial by 17.0% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WBS has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group started coverage on Webster Financial in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Webster Financial from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Webster Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Webster Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Webster Financial from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Webster Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.08.

Webster Financial Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE WBS opened at $51.13 on Monday. Webster Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $39.34 and a 1 year high of $63.99. The company has a market capitalization of $8.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Webster Financial (NYSE:WBS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.08. Webster Financial had a net margin of 18.39% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The firm had revenue of $661.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $687.53 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Webster Financial Co. will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Webster Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. Webster Financial’s payout ratio is presently 36.61%.

Insider Activity at Webster Financial

In other Webster Financial news, Director Laurence C. Morse sold 13,217 shares of Webster Financial stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,110,988.56. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO John R. Ciulla sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.43, for a total transaction of $459,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 210,051 shares in the company, valued at $12,063,228.93. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Webster Financial 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.