Royce & Associates LP Has $22.38 Million Stake in Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL)

Royce & Associates LP trimmed its stake in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) by 30.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 258,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 112,702 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned about 0.24% of Western Alliance Bancorporation worth $22,382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WAL. LHM Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation by 2,141.1% during the second quarter. LHM Inc. now owns 757,809 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,606,000 after acquiring an additional 723,995 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation by 16.3% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,112,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $328,165,000 after acquiring an additional 717,242 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation by 20.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,722,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $233,832,000 after acquiring an additional 636,577 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation by 6,342.7% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 514,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,522,000 after acquiring an additional 506,778 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation by 3.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,440,410 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $670,170,000 after acquiring an additional 395,101 shares during the period. 79.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Alliance Bancorporation

In other Western Alliance Bancorporation news, Director Robert P. Latta sold 2,996 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.75, for a total transaction of $247,919.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,056 shares in the company, valued at $335,634. This represents a 42.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Barbara Kennedy sold 11,083 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.59, for a total transaction of $904,261.97. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $650,843.43. The trade was a 58.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Royal Bank of Canada set a $99.00 price target on shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $83.00 to $101.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Alliance Bancorporation has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.73.

Western Alliance Bancorporation Stock Performance

Shares of WAL stock opened at $90.38 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.95, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.45. Western Alliance Bancorporation has a 52 week low of $47.54 and a 52 week high of $96.45.

Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $833.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $811.40 million. Western Alliance Bancorporation had a return on equity of 13.16% and a net margin of 14.66%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Western Alliance Bancorporation will post 7.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Alliance Bancorporation Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is an increase from Western Alliance Bancorporation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Western Alliance Bancorporation’s payout ratio is presently 22.84%.

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.