WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $39.43.

A number of analysts have commented on WSBC shares. StockNews.com raised shares of WesBanco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Piper Sandler began coverage on WesBanco in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised WesBanco from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $40.00 to $44.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of WesBanco in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of WesBanco from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

Institutional Trading of WesBanco

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WSBC. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in shares of WesBanco by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 22,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $744,000 after buying an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank boosted its position in shares of WesBanco by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 6,482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank increased its position in WesBanco by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 2,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. raised its stake in WesBanco by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in WesBanco by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 20,092 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $654,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares during the last quarter. 61.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

WesBanco Stock Performance

WSBC stock opened at $27.40 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.23 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. WesBanco has a 1 year low of $25.56 and a 1 year high of $37.36. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $33.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.88.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (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, equities analysts forecast that WesBanco will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current year.

WesBanco Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.07%.

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.