15,800 Shares in Webster Financial Corporation $WBS Acquired by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

Key Points

• The Virginia Retirement Systems ET Al acquired 15,800 shares of Webster Financial Corporation, valued at approximately $863,000, in Q2 according to SEC filings.
• Insider transactions included Director William L. Atwell selling 16,823 shares for nearly $1 million, and CEO John R. Ciulla selling 8,000 shares for about $463,600.
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered its price target for Webster Financial from $70.00 to $68.00, while Citigroup raised its target from $65.00 to $71.00 and maintained a "buy" rating.

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in shares of Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE:WBS - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 15,800 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $863,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Webster Financial by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,108,082 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $366,408,000 after acquiring an additional 487,264 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Webster Financial by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,049,297 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $260,291,000 after acquiring an additional 153,236 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Webster Financial by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,597,943 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $237,025,000 after acquiring an additional 42,406 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Webster Financial by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,015,647 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $155,457,000 after acquiring an additional 48,942 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Webster Financial by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 1,612,758 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $88,057,000 after acquiring an additional 23,605 shares in the last quarter. 85.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Webster Financial news, Director William L. Atwell sold 16,823 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.20, for a total transaction of $995,921.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 30,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,830,168. This trade represents a 35.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John R. Ciulla sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.95, for a total value of $463,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 239,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,900,582.40. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 28,630 shares of company stock worth $1,694,449. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Webster Financial from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Webster Financial in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Webster Financial from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Webster Financial in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Webster Financial from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $69.69.

Webster Financial Price Performance

NYSE:WBS opened at $55.76 on Friday. Webster Financial Corporation has a 1-year low of $39.43 and a 1-year high of $63.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.27 billion, a PE ratio of 10.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.05.

Webster Financial (NYSE:WBS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.02. Webster Financial had a return on equity of 11.07% and a net margin of 21.32%.The business had revenue of $732.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $725.22 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Webster Financial Corporation will post 5.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Webster Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Webster Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.80%.

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.

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