WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) Short Interest Update

WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) was the target of a large drop in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,430,000 shares, a drop of 59.5% from the February 28th total of 3,530,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 639,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

WesBanco Trading Down 0.3 %

WesBanco stock opened at $31.83 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $33.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.96. WesBanco has a 52 week low of $25.56 and a 52 week high of $37.36. The stock has a market cap of $2.13 billion, a PE ratio of 14.21 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts predict that WesBanco will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WesBanco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.65%. WesBanco’s payout ratio is 66.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on WSBC shares. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $39.00 price target on shares of WesBanco in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised WesBanco from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $40.00 to $44.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com upgraded WesBanco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Raymond James upgraded shares of WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of WesBanco from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.83.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of WesBanco in the 3rd quarter valued at $411,000. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in WesBanco by 3.0% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 30,049 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $895,000 after purchasing an additional 867 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in WesBanco in the third quarter valued at about $212,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of WesBanco by 25.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 695,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,712,000 after purchasing an additional 142,597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its position in shares of WesBanco by 2,061.7% in the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 12,603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $375,000 after buying an additional 12,020 shares during the period. 61.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

WesBanco Company Profile

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.