Royce & Associates LP Decreases Position in WSFS Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WSFS)

Royce & Associates LP trimmed its position in shares of WSFS Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WSFS) by 88.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,732 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 69,436 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in WSFS Financial were worth $464,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of WSFS Financial by 3.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,030,372 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $154,519,000 after acquiring an additional 87,781 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of WSFS Financial by 1.2% in the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,299,998 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,287,000 after acquiring an additional 14,792 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its position in shares of WSFS Financial by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 782,767 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $41,588,000 after acquiring an additional 11,414 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of WSFS Financial by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 740,584 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,347,000 after acquiring an additional 19,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of WSFS Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $18,167,000. 88.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WSFS Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ WSFS opened at $52.05 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $54.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.88. The company has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, a PE ratio of 11.78 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. WSFS Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $41.33 and a twelve month high of $62.75.

WSFS Financial (NASDAQ:WSFS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The bank reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.13. WSFS Financial had a net margin of 18.77% and a return on equity of 10.30%. On average, research analysts predict that WSFS Financial Co. will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current year.

WSFS Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. WSFS Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Rodger Levenson sold 7,199 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 142,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,881,456. This represents a 4.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on WSFS. Stephens reiterated 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 increased their target price on WSFS Financial from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, WSFS Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.75.

WSFS Financial 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.