Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) Shares Sold by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL - Free Report) by 46.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,103 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 4,407 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC's holdings in Western Alliance Bancorporation were worth $426,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WAL. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Western Alliance Bancorporation by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,968,526 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $498,612,000 after buying an additional 154,575 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Western Alliance Bancorporation by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,736,263 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $479,207,000 after buying an additional 278,041 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Western Alliance Bancorporation by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,577,760 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $298,887,000 after acquiring an additional 22,942 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,341,553 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $195,616,000 after acquiring an additional 445,176 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,883,743 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $157,369,000 after acquiring an additional 81,238 shares during the period. 79.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WAL. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Western Alliance Bancorporation from $95.00 to $80.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Stephens reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $92.00 price target on shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. DA Davidson reduced their price target on Western Alliance Bancorporation from $106.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Western Alliance Bancorporation from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Alliance Bancorporation has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $97.77.

Western Alliance Bancorporation Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of WAL traded down $1.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $72.40. The company had a trading volume of 832,040 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,229,957. The stock has a market cap of $7.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $80.95. Western Alliance Bancorporation has a fifty-two week low of $56.70 and a fifty-two week high of $98.10.

Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $790.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $792.25 million. Western Alliance Bancorporation had a return on equity of 13.14% and a net margin of 15.49%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.72 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Alliance Bancorporation will post 9.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Alliance Bancorporation Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Western Alliance Bancorporation's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.85%.

About Western Alliance Bancorporation

Western Alliance Bancorporation operates as the bank holding company for Western Alliance Bank that provides various banking products and related services primarily in Arizona, California, and Nevada. It operates through Commercial and Consumer Related segments. The company offers deposit products, including checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as fixed-rate and fixed maturity certificates of deposit accounts; demand deposits; and treasury management and residential mortgage products and services.