WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) Shares Bought by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank grew its stake in WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 117,145 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in WesBanco were worth $3,812,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WSBC. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in WesBanco during the third quarter worth $411,000. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of WesBanco by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 30,049 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $895,000 after acquiring an additional 867 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of WesBanco during the 3rd quarter valued at about $212,000. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of WesBanco by 25.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 695,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,712,000 after acquiring an additional 142,597 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP increased its stake in shares of WesBanco by 2,061.7% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 12,603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $375,000 after purchasing an additional 12,020 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

WesBanco Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of WSBC opened at $32.25 on Wednesday. WesBanco, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.56 and a 52-week high of $37.36. The stock has a market cap of $2.16 billion, a PE ratio of 14.40 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $33.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last posted 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 net margin of 15.89% and a return on equity of 6.30%. Research analysts forecast that WesBanco, Inc. will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WesBanco Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.59%. 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.