Cooke & Bieler LP Grows Position in WSFS Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WSFS)

Cooke & Bieler LP increased its stake in WSFS Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WSFS - Free Report) by 14.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 892,286 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 109,519 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP owned 1.54% of WSFS Financial worth $46,283,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in WSFS Financial by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,081 shares of the bank's stock valued at $160,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in WSFS Financial by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 4,439 shares of the bank's stock valued at $230,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the period. Mariner LLC lifted its stake in WSFS Financial by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 4,457 shares of the bank's stock valued at $237,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in WSFS Financial by 90.0% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 532 shares of the bank's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in WSFS Financial by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 21,060 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,119,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the period. 88.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and set a $64.00 price objective on shares of WSFS Financial in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut 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 report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of WSFS Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $62.75.

WSFS Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WSFS traded up $1.10 during trading on Thursday, hitting $58.69. 287,017 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 310,630. The company has a market cap of $3.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.19 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $54.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. WSFS Financial Corporation has a 52-week low of $42.44 and a 52-week high of $62.75.

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

WSFS Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. This is a positive change from WSFS Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. WSFS Financial's payout ratio is presently 15.28%.

WSFS Financial Company 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.