Brown Advisory Inc. Sells 18,825 Shares of WSFS Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WSFS)

Brown Advisory Inc. lowered its stake in WSFS Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WSFS - Free Report) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 827,034 shares of the bank's stock after selling 18,825 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. owned approximately 1.40% of WSFS Financial worth $43,940,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WSFS. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in WSFS Financial by 2,500.0% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 572 shares of the bank's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of WSFS Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of WSFS Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new position in shares of WSFS Financial in the fourth quarter worth approximately $84,000. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of WSFS Financial by 804.4% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,863 shares of the bank's stock valued at $99,000 after buying an additional 1,657 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.49% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on WSFS shares. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $64.00 price target on shares of WSFS Financial in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of WSFS Financial from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WSFS Financial currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $62.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Rodger Levenson sold 7,199 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.20, for a total transaction of $397,384.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 142,780 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,881,456. This represents a 4.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

WSFS Financial Stock Down 1.0 %

WSFS stock traded down $0.56 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $53.35. 299,322 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 296,821. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.71. The company has a market capitalization of $3.03 billion, a PE ratio of 12.07 and a beta of 0.86. WSFS Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $42.21 and a twelve month high of $62.75.

WSFS Financial (NASDAQ:WSFS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.09. WSFS Financial had a net margin of 18.77% and a return on equity of 10.30%. The business had revenue of $256.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $235.44 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.11 EPS. WSFS Financial's quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that WSFS Financial Co. will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WSFS Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is a boost from WSFS Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. WSFS Financial's payout ratio is currently 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.