WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on WSBC. DA Davidson increased their target price on WesBanco from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $39.00 price objective on shares of WesBanco in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $35.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.17.

WesBanco Stock Performance

WSBC stock opened at $35.22 on Tuesday. WesBanco has a 1-year low of $25.56 and a 1-year high of $37.36. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $33.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.33. The company has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.72 and a beta of 0.84. 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 (NASDAQ:WSBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.17. WesBanco had a net margin of 15.89% and a return on equity of 6.30%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that WesBanco will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WesBanco Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were given a $0.37 dividend. This is a positive change from WesBanco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.20%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Michael L. Perkins sold 1,125 shares of WesBanco stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,632,508.79. The trade was a 2.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WesBanco

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of WesBanco in the third quarter valued at about $116,114,000. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in WesBanco in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $12,333,000. F M Investments LLC purchased a new position in WesBanco during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $7,726,000. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its stake in WesBanco by 17,801.0% during the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 170,955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,626,000 after acquiring an additional 170,000 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of WesBanco by 30.5% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 653,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,270,000 after acquiring an additional 152,766 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.41% of the company’s stock.

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.