Great Lakes Advisors LLC Purchases New Holdings in WSFS Financial Corporation $WSFS

Key Points

• Great Lakes Advisors acquired 74,597 WSFS Financial shares worth approximately $5.7 million, while institutional investors collectively owned 88.49% of the company.
• Analysts remain cautious, with an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.07; WSFS shares opened at $79.81 and recently traded near their 52-week high.
• WSFS beat quarterly expectations with $1.66 in earnings per share and $284.7 million in revenue, while declaring a $0.20 quarterly dividend, equivalent to a 1.0% yield.

Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new position in WSFS Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WSFS - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 74,597 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $5,724,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC owned about 0.15% of WSFS Financial at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of WSFS Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at $576,695,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of WSFS Financial by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,465,792 shares of the bank's stock valued at $136,210,000 after acquiring an additional 32,423 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in WSFS Financial by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,066,591 shares of the bank's stock valued at $58,918,000 after acquiring an additional 60,931 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its holdings in WSFS Financial by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,055,902 shares of the bank's stock valued at $58,328,000 after acquiring an additional 23,946 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in WSFS Financial in the second quarter worth about $68,174,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.49% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WSFS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $90.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of WSFS Financial in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of WSFS Financial in a report on Friday, June 12th. TD Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of WSFS Financial in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. DA Davidson set a $83.00 price target on WSFS Financial and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Stephens lowered WSFS Financial from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $87.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WSFS Financial currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $83.07.

WSFS Financial Stock Down 2.3%

WSFS Financial stock opened at $79.81 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.35 and a beta of 0.77. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $78.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. WSFS Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.92 and a fifty-two week high of $82.94.

WSFS Financial (NASDAQ:WSFS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $284.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $278.41 million. WSFS Financial had a net margin of 23.34% and a return on equity of 11.71%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that WSFS Financial Corporation will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

WSFS Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. WSFS Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 13.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Shari Kruzinski sold 3,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.74, for a total value of $286,090.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 15,207 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,243,020.18. This represents a 18.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Rodger Levenson sold 65,446 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.11, for a total value of $4,850,203.06. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 186,088 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,790,981.68. This trade represents a 26.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

About WSFS Financial

WSFS Financial Corporation is the bank holding company for WSFS Bank, a regional financial institution headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware. The company traces its roots to the Safe Deposit & Trust Company, founded in 1832, and formally organized as WSFS Financial in the mid-1980s. Over its long history, WSFS has grown through a combination of organic expansion and selective acquisitions to serve a broad base of individual, commercial and institutional clients.

WSFS Bank offers a full suite of banking and financial services, including retail and commercial deposit accounts, commercial and industrial lending, real estate financing, and treasury management solutions.

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