Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) gapped down prior to trading on Friday after Wedbush lowered their price target on the stock from $75.00 to $70.00. The stock had previously closed at $55.74, but opened at $54.19. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Western Alliance Bancorporation shares last traded at $56.06, with a volume of 366,924 shares trading hands.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on WAL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation from $72.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation in a report on Thursday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Alliance Bancorporation currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.36.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Alliance Bancorporation

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation in the first quarter worth $27,000. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation in the first quarter worth $201,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation by 57.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA increased its position in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 216,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,265,000 after acquiring an additional 1,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation in the fourth quarter worth $873,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.15% of the company’s stock.

Western Alliance Bancorporation Stock Up 3.0 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $59.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.41. The company has a market cap of $6.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.78 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $711.34 million. Western Alliance Bancorporation had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 16.33%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.30 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Western Alliance Bancorporation will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Alliance Bancorporation Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. Western Alliance Bancorporation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.63%.

Western Alliance Bancorporation Company Profile

Western Alliance Bancorporation operates as the bank holding company for Western Alliance Bank that provides various banking products and related services primarily in Arizona, California, and Nevada. It operates through Commercial and Consumer Related segments. The company offers deposit products, including checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as fixed-rate and fixed maturity certificates of deposit accounts; demand deposits; and treasury management and residential mortgage products and services.