California State Teachers Retirement System Grows Position in WSFS Financial Corporation $WSFS

California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in WSFS Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WSFS) by 25.5% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 66,481 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,525 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in WSFS Financial were worth $4,352,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in WSFS Financial by 92.4% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 431 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of WSFS Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Torren Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of WSFS Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its position in WSFS Financial by 167.5% during the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 781 shares of the bank’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its position in WSFS Financial by 159.7% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 813 shares of the bank’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.49% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WSFS Financial news, EVP Shari Kruzinski sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.74, for a total transaction of $286,090.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 15,207 shares in the company, valued at $1,243,020.18. The trade was a 18.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Rodger Levenson sold 65,446 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.11, for a total value of $4,850,203.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 186,088 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

WSFS Financial Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:WSFS opened at $81.27 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.59 and a beta of 0.77. WSFS Financial Corporation has a 1 year low of $49.92 and a 1 year high of $82.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.84.

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

WSFS Financial Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on WSFS shares. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $87.00 price target on shares of WSFS Financial in a report on Monday, July 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on WSFS Financial from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $90.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of WSFS Financial in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. UBS Group set a $76.00 target price on WSFS Financial in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of WSFS Financial in a report on Friday, June 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.07.

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.