Russell Investments Group Ltd. Decreases Position in Webster Financial Corporation $WBS

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its stake in Webster Financial by 16.2%, resulting in ownership of 320,483 shares, valued at approximately $16.5 million.
• Webster Financial reported earnings of $1.52 per share, beating expectations, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.40 per share with a yield of 2.8%.
• Analysts have recently increased price targets for Webster Financial, with Citigroup setting a new target of $71.00 and the consensus rating being "Moderate Buy."

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lessened its position in shares of Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE:WBS - Free Report) by 16.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 320,483 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 61,990 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.19% of Webster Financial worth $16,521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in Webster Financial during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Webster Financial by 327.2% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 739 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 566 shares during the last quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Webster Financial by 118.4% in the 1st quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 832 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Webster Financial by 43.7% in the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 941 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Webster Financial by 171.2% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,025 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.58% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on WBS shares. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $60.00 target price on Webster Financial and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Webster Financial from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Barclays raised their price target on Webster Financial from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Citigroup raised their price target on Webster Financial from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $67.00 price target (up from $61.00) on shares of Webster Financial in a report on Friday, July 11th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $66.77.

Webster Financial Price Performance

WBS stock traded down $0.0260 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $58.3340. 469,190 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,301,269. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $56.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.32. The stock has a market cap of $9.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.83, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.04. Webster Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $39.43 and a fifty-two week high of $63.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Webster Financial (NYSE:WBS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $715.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $716.59 million. Webster Financial had a return on equity of 10.84% and a net margin of 20.06%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 16.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.26 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Webster Financial Corporation will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Webster Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Webster Financial's payout ratio is currently 32.45%.

Webster Financial announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $700.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 8.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Webster Financial news, CAO Albert Jen-Wen Wang sold 3,250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.31, for a total transaction of $196,007.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 15,755 shares in the company, valued at $950,184.05. This represents a 17.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider James Mi Griffin sold 2,065 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.56, for a total value of $125,056.40. Following the sale, the insider owned 13,363 shares of the company's stock, valued at $809,263.28. This represents a 13.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 45,438 shares of company stock valued at $2,609,985 in the last 90 days. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Webster Financial

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.