300,000 Shares in Webster Financial Corporation $WBS Bought by Absolute Gestao de Investimentos Ltda.

Absolute Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. acquired a new stake in shares of Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE:WBS) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 300,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $20,826,000. Webster Financial makes up 2.4% of Absolute Gestao de Investimentos Ltda.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cannell & Spears LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Webster Financial during the 1st quarter valued at $215,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its position in Webster Financial by 1,397.4% in the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,392,586 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,673,000 after buying an additional 1,299,586 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its position in Webster Financial by 862.3% in the 1st quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 193,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,461,000 after buying an additional 173,750 shares during the last quarter. GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. purchased a new stake in Webster Financial in the first quarter worth approximately $8,836,000. Finally, Compound Planning Inc. boosted its stake in Webster Financial by 13.9% in the first quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 5,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $400,000 after buying an additional 703 shares in the last quarter. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Webster Financial in a research note on Friday, June 12th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Webster Financial in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $69.00 price target for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Webster Financial from $79.00 to $77.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Webster Financial from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.04.

Webster Financial Price Performance

WBS stock opened at $76.06 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $74.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.37. Webster Financial Corporation has a 12-month low of $52.69 and a 12-month high of $77.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.37 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Webster Financial (NYSE:WBS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $739.99 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $755.80 million. Webster Financial had a net margin of 22.78% and a return on equity of 11.23%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Webster Financial Corporation will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Webster Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Webster Financial’s payout ratio is presently 26.02%.

Webster Financial Company Profile

Webster Financial Corporation is a bank holding company headquartered in Waterbury, Connecticut. Through its principal subsidiary, Webster Bank, N.A., the company offers a broad range of banking products and financial services to individuals, small businesses, and middle-market commercial clients. Key offerings include deposit accounts, residential and commercial real estate lending, equipment finance, treasury management, and payment processing solutions.

In addition to traditional banking services, Webster Financial provides wealth management and insurance products designed to help clients plan for retirement, preserve assets, and manage risk.