California Public Employees Retirement System Reduces Holdings in Webster Financial Co. (NYSE:WBS)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in Webster Financial Co. (NYSE:WBS) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 306,490 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 11,329 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.18% of Webster Financial worth $16,924,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Webster Financial in the fourth quarter worth $269,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC purchased a new position in Webster Financial in the 4th quarter worth $246,000. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in Webster Financial by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 31,978 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,488,000 after acquiring an additional 2,032 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Webster Financial by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,507,655 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $83,253,000 after purchasing an additional 38,713 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Webster Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,549,000. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Laurence C. Morse sold 13,217 shares of Webster Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.07, for a total value of $780,728.19. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,110,988.56. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO John R. Ciulla sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.43, for a total value of $459,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 210,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,063,228.93. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WBS shares. UBS Group initiated coverage on Webster Financial in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Webster Financial from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Webster Financial from $65.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Webster Financial from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Webster Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $75.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.92.

Webster Financial Stock Down 5.0 %

Webster Financial stock opened at $41.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.15 billion, a PE ratio of 9.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $54.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.56. Webster Financial Co. has a 12 month low of $39.34 and a 12 month high of $63.99.

Webster Financial (NYSE:WBS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.08. Webster Financial had a net margin of 18.39% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The company had revenue of $661.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $687.53 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Webster Financial Co. will post 5.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Webster Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Webster Financial’s payout ratio is 36.61%.

Webster Financial Company Profile

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.