WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,470,000 shares, a growth of 68.7% from the July 31st total of 871,500 shares. Approximately 2.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 246,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.0 days.

WesBanco Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WSBC opened at $32.01 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.81. WesBanco has a fifty-two week low of $23.00 and a fifty-two week high of $34.85. The company has a market capitalization of $1.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.34 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.04). WesBanco had a net margin of 15.22% and a return on equity of 5.90%. The company had revenue of $234.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $148.40 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. Analysts expect that WesBanco will post 2.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WesBanco Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.50%. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.00%.

Insider Transactions at WesBanco

In other WesBanco news, EVP Michael L. Perkins sold 5,363 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.19, for a total transaction of $161,908.97. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 46,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,413,405.23. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 3.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WesBanco

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wesbanco Bank Inc. lifted its position in WesBanco by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 1,681,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $50,134,000 after acquiring an additional 39,808 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of WesBanco by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 811,270 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,450,000 after buying an additional 48,304 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in WesBanco by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 490,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,685,000 after buying an additional 21,297 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in WesBanco in the 4th quarter worth about $8,620,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in WesBanco by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 227,429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,348,000 after acquiring an additional 6,043 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on WesBanco from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Hovde Group raised their price target on WesBanco from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of WesBanco from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Stephens raised their target price on shares of WesBanco from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of WesBanco from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.71.

About WesBanco

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.