BLB&B Advisors LLC Makes New $291,000 Investment in WSFS Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WSFS)

BLB&B Advisors LLC purchased a new position in WSFS Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WSFS - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 5,610 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $291,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of WSFS Financial by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,313,175 shares of the bank's stock worth $122,899,000 after acquiring an additional 19,895 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of WSFS Financial by 309.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,687,824 shares of the bank's stock worth $89,674,000 after acquiring an additional 1,276,078 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of WSFS Financial by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 809,334 shares of the bank's stock worth $43,000,000 after purchasing an additional 9,542 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its stake in shares of WSFS Financial by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 782,767 shares of the bank's stock worth $41,588,000 after purchasing an additional 11,414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of WSFS Financial by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 740,584 shares of the bank's stock worth $39,347,000 after purchasing an additional 19,650 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.49% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on WSFS shares. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $64.00 target price on shares of WSFS Financial in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of WSFS Financial from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of WSFS Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $62.75.

WSFS Financial Stock Performance

Shares of WSFS stock traded up $0.82 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $59.05. 233,303 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 313,756. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $53.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.27 and a beta of 0.87. WSFS Financial Corporation has a 12-month low of $42.44 and a 12-month high of $62.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83.

WSFS Financial (NASDAQ:WSFS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $256.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $235.44 million. WSFS Financial had a return on equity of 10.06% and a net margin of 18.86%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.11 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that WSFS Financial Corporation will post 4.47 EPS for the current year.

WSFS Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is a positive change from WSFS Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. WSFS Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.28%.

About WSFS Financial

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.