WesBanco’s (WSBC) Equal Weight Rating Reiterated at Stephens

Stephens restated their equal weight rating on shares of WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $39.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.

Separately, Raymond James raised shares of WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.67.

WesBanco Trading Up 5.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WSBC opened at $33.43 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.04. WesBanco has a 1 year low of $25.56 and a 1 year high of $37.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The company has a market capitalization of $2.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.92 and a beta of 0.85.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.17. WesBanco had a return on equity of 6.30% and a net margin of 15.89%. On average, research analysts anticipate that WesBanco will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WesBanco Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This is a positive change from WesBanco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.43%. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other WesBanco news, EVP Michael L. Perkins sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.87, for a total transaction of $39,228.75. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 46,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,632,508.79. The trade was a 2.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WSBC. Quarry LP lifted its stake in WesBanco by 215.3% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 913 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of WesBanco during the third quarter valued at about $56,000. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in WesBanco by 175.2% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,072 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 1,319 shares during the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new position in shares of WesBanco in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $78,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of WesBanco during the third quarter valued at approximately $80,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.41% of the company’s stock.

About WesBanco

WesBanco, Inc operates as the bank holding company for WesBanco Bank, Inc that provides retail banking, corporate banking, personal and corporate trust, brokerage, mortgage banking, and insurance services to individuals and businesses in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Community Banking, and Trust and Investment Services.