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 changing hands.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Western Alliance Bancorporation from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation in a report on Thursday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Western Alliance Bancorporation from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com downgraded Western Alliance Bancorporation from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Western Alliance Bancorporation from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.60.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WAL. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation by 44.4% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,056,477 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $144,167,000 after purchasing an additional 1,246,855 shares in the last quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation in the fourth quarter valued at about $77,957,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation in the fourth quarter valued at about $68,940,000. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation by 489.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,333,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,320,000 after acquiring an additional 1,107,431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in Western Alliance Bancorporation in the first quarter worth about $32,430,000. 79.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Alliance Bancorporation Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $6.17 billion, a PE ratio of 8.53 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $59.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.32.

Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The financial services provider reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.03. Western Alliance Bancorporation had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 16.74%. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.30 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Western Alliance Bancorporation will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Alliance Bancorporation Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.64%. Western Alliance Bancorporation’s payout ratio is currently 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.