Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires New Stake in Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 32,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,695,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WAL. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,488,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $388,197,000 after purchasing an additional 1,418,472 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Western Alliance Bancorporation by 93.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,793,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $241,568,000 after buying an additional 1,347,921 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Western Alliance Bancorporation by 6,342.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 514,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,522,000 after buying an additional 506,778 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Western Alliance Bancorporation during the third quarter worth about $39,230,000. Finally, Philadelphia Financial Management of San Francisco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation during the third quarter valued at about $16,250,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on WAL shares. UBS Group started coverage on Western Alliance Bancorporation in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation from $115.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation from $102.00 to $95.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.07.

Western Alliance Bancorporation Price Performance

NYSE WAL opened at $76.08 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.96. Western Alliance Bancorporation has a 52-week low of $53.75 and a 52-week high of $98.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.92 by $0.03. Western Alliance Bancorporation had a net margin of 15.49% and a return on equity of 13.14%. Equities research analysts predict that Western Alliance Bancorporation will post 9.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Alliance Bancorporation Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Western Alliance Bancorporation’s dividend payout ratio is 21.41%.

About Western Alliance Bancorporation

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.