Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Has $3.94 Million Holdings in Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 47,210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina’s holdings in Western Alliance Bancorporation were worth $3,944,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Western Alliance Bancorporation by 2.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 123,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,674,000 after purchasing an additional 3,421 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in Western Alliance Bancorporation by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 5,626 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $487,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Western Alliance Bancorporation by 89.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 7,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $667,000 after acquiring an additional 3,365 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Western Alliance Bancorporation by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 314,972 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,970,000 after acquiring an additional 45,764 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in Western Alliance Bancorporation during the third quarter valued at about $639,000. 79.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WAL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $103.00 price objective on shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Western Alliance Bancorporation from $95.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation from $110.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Western Alliance Bancorporation from $107.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.40.

Western Alliance Bancorporation Stock Performance

Western Alliance Bancorporation stock opened at $66.11 on Wednesday. Western Alliance Bancorporation has a 52-week low of $53.75 and a 52-week high of $98.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $77.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.29.

Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Western Alliance Bancorporation will post 9.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Alliance Bancorporation Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. Western Alliance Bancorporation’s 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.