Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Acquires 19,650 Shares of WSFS Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WSFS)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of WSFS Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WSFS) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 740,584 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,650 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 1.26% of WSFS Financial worth $39,347,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in WSFS Financial by 32.2% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,304 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $176,000 after buying an additional 804 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of WSFS Financial by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 267,028 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,187,000 after acquiring an additional 47,028 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in shares of WSFS Financial by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 13,705 shares of the bank’s stock worth $728,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of WSFS Financial by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 250,058 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,286,000 after purchasing an additional 7,293 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in WSFS Financial by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 317,254 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,856,000 after purchasing an additional 10,915 shares in the last quarter. 88.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Rodger Levenson sold 7,199 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.20, for a total transaction of $397,384.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 142,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,881,456. This represents a 4.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WSFS. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $68.00 target price on shares of WSFS Financial in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on WSFS Financial from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.75.

WSFS Financial Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ WSFS opened at $52.00 on Friday. WSFS Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $41.13 and a 12-month high of $62.75. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, a PE ratio of 11.76 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

WSFS Financial (NASDAQ:WSFS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The bank reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.13. WSFS Financial had a return on equity of 10.30% and a net margin of 18.77%. As a group, analysts expect that WSFS Financial Co. will post 4.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WSFS Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. WSFS Financial’s payout ratio is currently 13.57%.

About WSFS Financial

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.