Webster Financial (WBS) Upgraded by Piper Jaffray Companies to “Neutral”

Webster Financial (NYSE:WBS) was upgraded by stock analysts at Piper Jaffray Companies from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $55.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock. Piper Jaffray Companies’ target price would indicate a potential downside of 4.21% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on WBS. Deutsche Bank increased their price objective on Webster Financial from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 8th. Zacks Investment Research lowered Webster Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $71.00 price objective on shares of Webster Financial in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. ValuEngine lowered Webster Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 14th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Webster Financial from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Webster Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.11.

Webster Financial (WBS) traded up $1.10 during trading on Friday, reaching $57.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 639,465 shares, compared to its average volume of 590,752. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Webster Financial has a 1 year low of $44.04 and a 1 year high of $59.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $5,581.29, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.22.

Webster Financial (NYSE:WBS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.03. Webster Financial had a return on equity of 9.89% and a net margin of 21.09%. The firm had revenue of $266.75 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $269.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.54 earnings per share. sell-side analysts forecast that Webster Financial will post 2.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other news, Director John Joseph Crawford sold 11,516 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.83, for a total value of $631,422.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,953 shares in the company, valued at $929,532.99. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Karen R. Osar sold 12,923 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.70, for a total value of $706,888.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 36,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,023,024.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,107 shares of company stock valued at $1,988,452. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WBS. American Century Companies Inc. bought a new position in Webster Financial in the third quarter valued at about $87,888,000. Koch Industries Inc. bought a new position in Webster Financial in the second quarter valued at about $1,387,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC bought a new position in Webster Financial in the third quarter valued at about $54,672,000. Brown Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Webster Financial in the third quarter valued at about $29,151,000. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its holdings in Webster Financial by 27.8% in the third quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,186,320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,342,000 after acquiring an additional 258,311 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.77% of the company’s stock.

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About Webster Financial

Webster Financial Corporation is a bank and financial holding company. The Company’s segments include Commercial Banking, Community Banking, HSA Bank, Private Banking, and Corporate and Reconciling. The Commercial Banking segment includes middle-market, asset-based lending, commercial real estate, equipment finance, and treasury and payment solutions, which includes government and institutional banking.

Analyst Recommendations for Webster Financial (NYSE:WBS)