WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) Shares Acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 232,568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 34,008 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in WesBanco were worth $6,926,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WSBC. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of WesBanco by 215.3% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 913 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in WesBanco during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $56,000. CWM LLC lifted its position in WesBanco by 175.2% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,072 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 1,319 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in WesBanco in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $80,000. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in WesBanco in the third quarter valued at approximately $147,000. 61.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WesBanco Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WSBC opened at $32.15 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.15 billion, a PE ratio of 15.38 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.88. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.56 and a 12-month high of $37.36.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.03. WesBanco had a net margin of 14.79% and a return on equity of 5.75%. The company had revenue of $243.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $152.40 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that WesBanco, Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WesBanco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.60%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This is an increase from WesBanco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.81%.

Insider Transactions at WesBanco

In related news, EVP Michael L. Perkins sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 46,817 shares in the company, valued at $1,632,508.79. This trade represents a 2.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on WSBC. 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 report on Friday, December 6th. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of WesBanco from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Three 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.83.

WesBanco 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.