WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) Receives $37.83 Average PT from Analysts

WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $37.83.

WSBC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stephens raised their price target on shares of WesBanco from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of WesBanco in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $35.00 to $44.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th.

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 value of $39,228.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 46,817 shares in the company, valued at $1,632,508.79. This trade represents a 2.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 3.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of WesBanco

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in WesBanco by 215.3% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 913 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of WesBanco by 214.5% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,384 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 944 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of WesBanco in the 3rd quarter valued at $56,000. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in WesBanco by 175.2% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,072 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 1,319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in WesBanco during the third quarter valued at $80,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.41% of the company’s stock.

WesBanco Price Performance

Shares of WesBanco stock opened at $32.54 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.57 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $34.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.55. WesBanco has a one year low of $25.56 and a one year 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 (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $243.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $152.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. Equities analysts expect that WesBanco will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

WesBanco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This is a positive change from WesBanco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.81%.

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.