Boenning & Scattergood Reaffirms Their Hold Rating on Webster Financial


In a report released today, Erik Zwick from Boenning & Scattergood maintained a Hold rating on Webster Financial (NYSE: WBS). The company’s shares opened today at $66.15, close to its 52-week high of $67.86.

Zwick said:

“We maintain our Neutral rating on shares of WBS with the stock trading at a significant premium to peers on forward P/E 2019 (16.9x vs. 13.1x) and price-to-tangible book (3.0x vs. 2.1x). We believe Webster is largely on the right track with its three-pronged approach to (1) aggressively grow the HSA Bank division, (2) expand (3) optimize and transform Community Banking. The benefits of the first two initiatives are readily apparent as a combination of variable rate loans (70% of total) and sticky, low-beta deposit funding translate into an asset-sensitive balance sheet and expanding NIM as a result of the Fed’s interest rate-hiking agenda. We recommend investors look for a more attractive entry point to initiate new positions or add to existing rather than purchase near the 12-month high.”

According to TipRanks.com, Zwick is ranked #1706 out of 4841 analysts.

Currently, the analyst consensus on Webster Financial is a Hold with an average price target of $67.10.

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Based on Webster Financial’s latest earnings release for the quarter ending March 31, the company reported a quarterly net profit of $80.03 million. In comparison, last year the company had a net profit of $61.51 million.

Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 81 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is negative on the stock. Most recently, in May 2018, John Joseph Crawford, a Director at WBS sold 4,000 shares for a total of $244,120.

TipRanks has tracked 36,000 company insiders and found that a few of them are better than others when it comes to timing their transactions. See which 3 stocks are most likely to make moves following their insider activities.

Webster Financial Corp. operates as a holding company for Webster Bank NA. It engages in providing financial services to individuals, families and businesses. It offers equipment financing, commercial real estate lending and asset-based lending services.

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