Pzena Investment Management LLC Makes New Investment in WSFS Financial Corporation $WSFS

Pzena Investment Management LLC bought a new position in WSFS Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WSFS) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 888,496 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $68,174,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in WSFS Financial by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,598 shares of the bank’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH increased its holdings in WSFS Financial by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 68,460 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,782,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in WSFS Financial by 92.4% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 431 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in WSFS Financial by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,148 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in WSFS Financial by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 6,389 shares of the bank’s stock worth $345,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on WSFS. Stephens lowered WSFS Financial from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $87.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. UBS Group set a $76.00 price target on WSFS Financial in a research report on Monday, April 27th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of WSFS Financial in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of WSFS Financial in a report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of WSFS Financial in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.07.

WSFS Financial Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:WSFS opened at $81.81 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $78.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.54. The company has a market cap of $4.18 billion, a PE ratio of 13.68 and a beta of 0.76. WSFS Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.92 and a fifty-two week high of $82.94.

WSFS Financial (NASDAQ:WSFS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.16. WSFS Financial had a net margin of 23.34% and a return on equity of 11.71%. The firm had revenue of $284.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $278.41 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.27 EPS. WSFS Financial’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that WSFS Financial Corporation will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current year.

WSFS Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 7th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. WSFS Financial’s payout ratio is currently 13.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other WSFS Financial news, EVP Shari Kruzinski sold 3,500 shares of WSFS Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.74, for a total transaction of $286,090.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 15,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,243,020.18. The trade was a 18.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Rodger Levenson sold 65,446 shares of WSFS Financial stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.11, for a total value of $4,850,203.06. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 186,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,790,981.68. The trade was a 26.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

About WSFS Financial

WSFS Financial Corporation is the bank holding company for WSFS Bank, a regional financial institution headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware. The company traces its roots to the Safe Deposit & Trust Company, founded in 1832, and formally organized as WSFS Financial in the mid-1980s. Over its long history, WSFS has grown through a combination of organic expansion and selective acquisitions to serve a broad base of individual, commercial and institutional clients.

WSFS Bank offers a full suite of banking and financial services, including retail and commercial deposit accounts, commercial and industrial lending, real estate financing, and treasury management solutions.