Norges Bank Invests $125.48 Million in Western Alliance Bancorporation $WAL

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,492,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $125,482,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Western Alliance Bancorporation in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,131,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation by 144.6% during the 4th quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation by 64.8% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,607 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $219,000 after buying an additional 1,025 shares during the period. Smead Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,556,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $130,892,000 after buying an additional 223,707 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legato Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 17,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,445,000 after buying an additional 754 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on WAL shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Western Alliance Bancorporation from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $83.00 to $79.00 in a research report on Monday, March 9th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Western Alliance Bancorporation from $93.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Western Alliance Bancorporation from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation from $105.00 to $77.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Alliance Bancorporation presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.93.

Western Alliance Bancorporation Trading Up 3.7%

NYSE:WAL opened at $80.64 on Friday. Western Alliance Bancorporation has a one year low of $65.82 and a one year high of $97.23. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $77.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.74. Western Alliance Bancorporation had a return on equity of 13.58% and a net margin of 17.03%.The company had revenue of $968.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $944.18 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.79 earnings per share. Western Alliance Bancorporation’s quarterly revenue was up 31.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Western Alliance Bancorporation will post 9.8 EPS for the current year.

Western Alliance Bancorporation Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. Western Alliance Bancorporation’s payout ratio is presently 19.56%.

Western Alliance Bancorporation Profile

Western Alliance Bancorporation is a bank holding company headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Through its principal subsidiary, Western Alliance Bank, the company provides a range of banking services to commercial clients, entrepreneurs and real estate developers. As one of the largest regional banks in the western United States, it focuses on relationship-driven banking solutions tailored to niche industries and growing businesses.

The company’s core offerings include deposit products, treasury management and a variety of lending services.