Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC Invests $203,000 in Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL)

Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 2,420 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Western Alliance Bancorporation by 0.6% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 29,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,911,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Western Alliance Bancorporation by 57.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation by 26.5% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,165 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation by 136.8% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital grew its position in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 5,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $429,000 after buying an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.15% of the company’s stock.

Western Alliance Bancorporation Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WAL opened at $88.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $9.77 billion, a PE ratio of 12.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.44. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.40. Western Alliance Bancorporation has a fifty-two week low of $38.81 and a fifty-two week high of $88.92.

Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $771.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $737.97 million. Western Alliance Bancorporation had a return on equity of 13.98% and a net margin of 15.54%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Western Alliance Bancorporation will post 7.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Alliance Bancorporation Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Western Alliance Bancorporation’s payout ratio is 21.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Western Alliance Bancorporation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $83.00 to $101.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Western Alliance Bancorporation from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Western Alliance Bancorporation from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com downgraded Western Alliance Bancorporation from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Western Alliance Bancorporation from $78.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.53.

Insider Transactions at Western Alliance Bancorporation

In other news, CAO J. Kelly Jr. Ardrey sold 2,116 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.95, for a total value of $160,710.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,520 shares in the company, valued at $267,344. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CAO J. Kelly Jr. Ardrey sold 2,116 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.95, for a total value of $160,710.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,520 shares in the company, valued at $267,344. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Barbara Kennedy sold 11,083 shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.59, for a total value of $904,261.97. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $650,843.43. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,265 shares of company stock worth $1,700,391 over the last three months. 2.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Western Alliance Bancorporation Profile

Western Alliance Bancorporation operates as the bank holding company for Western Alliance Bank that provides various banking products and related services primarily in Arizona, California, and Nevada. It operates through Commercial and Consumer Related segments. The company offers deposit products, including checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as fixed-rate and fixed maturity certificates of deposit accounts; demand deposits; and treasury management and residential mortgage products and services.