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

WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $37.83.

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

Insider Activity at WesBanco

In other WesBanco news, EVP Michael L. Perkins sold 1,125 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 46,817 shares in the company, valued at $1,632,508.79. The trade was a 2.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WesBanco

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WSBC. Quarry LP lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 913 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 944 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in WesBanco during the 3rd quarter valued at $56,000. CWM LLC grew its position in WesBanco by 175.2% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,072 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 1,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in WesBanco in the third quarter worth $80,000. 61.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WesBanco Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ WSBC opened at $32.04 on Monday. WesBanco has a 12 month low of $25.56 and a 12 month high of $37.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 billion, a PE ratio of 15.33 and a beta of 0.85. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $34.27 and its 200 day moving average is $31.59.

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

WesBanco Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.37 dividend. This is a boost from WesBanco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.62%. WesBanco’s payout ratio is 70.81%.

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.