New York State Teachers Retirement System Reduces Holdings in Northwest Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:NWBI)

New York State Teachers Retirement System reduced its holdings in shares of Northwest Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:NWBI) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,899 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 1,700 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Northwest Bancshares were worth $436,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NWBI. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Northwest Bancshares by 59.4% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,048,444 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $108,734,000 after acquiring an additional 2,999,249 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Northwest Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at about $15,875,000. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Northwest Bancshares by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 18,659,483 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $224,474,000 after acquiring an additional 428,733 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Northwest Bancshares by 2.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,374,118 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $194,195,000 after buying an additional 368,801 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Northwest Bancshares by 4.2% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,116,084 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $109,649,000 after buying an additional 328,495 shares in the last quarter. 66.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Northwest Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NWBI opened at $10.78 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.47. Northwest Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $9.80 and a 12 month high of $13.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $1.37 billion, a PE ratio of 10.17 and a beta of 0.60.

Northwest Bancshares (NASDAQ:NWBI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24. The company had revenue of $186.56 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $133.06 million. Northwest Bancshares had a return on equity of 9.21% and a net margin of 19.23%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Northwest Bancshares, Inc. will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Northwest Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 1st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.42%. Northwest Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.47%.

Insider Transactions at Northwest Bancshares

In other news, EVP Scott J. Watson acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $12.90 per share, for a total transaction of $64,500.00. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president now directly owns 35,282 shares in the company, valued at approximately $455,137.80. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Northwest Bancshares from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd.

Northwest Bancshares Profile

Northwest Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Northwest Bank, a state-chartered savings bank that provides personal and business banking solutions. The company accepts various deposits, including checking, savings, money market deposit, term certificate, and individual retirement accounts.