Franklin Resources Inc. Buys 45,764 Shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL)

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) by 17.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 314,972 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 45,764 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.29% of Western Alliance Bancorporation worth $27,970,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WAL. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Western Alliance Bancorporation by 46.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,488,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $388,197,000 after purchasing an additional 1,418,472 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation by 93.3% during 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 in the last quarter. LHM Inc. lifted its position in Western Alliance Bancorporation by 2,141.1% in the 2nd quarter. LHM Inc. now owns 757,809 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,606,000 after buying an additional 723,995 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Western Alliance Bancorporation by 20.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,722,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $233,832,000 after buying an additional 636,577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Western Alliance Bancorporation by 6,342.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 506,778 shares during the last quarter. 79.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WAL shares. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation from $100.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 21st. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Western Alliance Bancorporation from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Western Alliance Bancorporation from $107.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Western Alliance Bancorporation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $83.00 to $101.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on Western Alliance Bancorporation in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Alliance Bancorporation has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.75.

Western Alliance Bancorporation Price Performance

WAL stock opened at $83.74 on Thursday. 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 has a 1 year low of $53.75 and a 1 year high of $98.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $89.27 and a 200 day moving average of $79.16. The company has a market cap of $9.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.92, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.45.

Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $833.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $811.40 million. Western Alliance Bancorporation had a return on equity of 13.16% and a net margin of 14.66%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Alliance Bancorporation will post 7.14 EPS for the current year.

Western Alliance Bancorporation Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This is a boost from Western Alliance Bancorporation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Western Alliance Bancorporation’s payout ratio is 23.46%.

Western Alliance Bancorporation 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.