Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE:WBS) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE:WBS) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from analysts, with an average 12-month target price of $68.73.
• Director William L. Atwell recently sold 16,823 shares for approximately $995,922, representing a significant decrease in his stake in the company.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.40 per share, translating to an annualized dividend yield of 2.8%.

Shares of Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE:WBS - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and fourteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $68.7333.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WBS. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on shares of Webster Financial from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Webster Financial in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Webster Financial from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Webster Financial from $64.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Webster Financial from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director William L. Atwell sold 16,823 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.20, for a total value of $995,921.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 30,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,830,168. This trade represents a 35.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Albert Jen-Wen Wang sold 3,250 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 owned 15,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at $950,184.05. This trade represents a 17.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 36,445 shares of company stock worth $2,168,537. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Webster Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Webster Financial by 7.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,108,082 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $366,408,000 after purchasing an additional 487,264 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Webster Financial by 4.9% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,296,071 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $289,165,000 after purchasing an additional 246,774 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Webster Financial by 0.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,597,943 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $237,025,000 after purchasing an additional 42,406 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Webster Financial by 14.5% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,453,778 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $188,576,000 after purchasing an additional 438,131 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Webster Financial in the second quarter valued at about $131,780,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.58% of the company's stock.

Webster Financial Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of NYSE:WBS opened at $58.17 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $9.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $59.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Webster Financial has a 1-year low of $39.43 and a 1-year high of $63.99.

Webster Financial (NYSE:WBS - Get Free Report) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $715.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $716.59 million. Webster Financial had a net margin of 20.06% and a return on equity of 10.84%. Webster Financial's quarterly revenue was up 16.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.26 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Webster Financial will post 5.88 EPS for the current year.

Webster Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. Webster Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.45%.

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.

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