Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Trims Stake in WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. decreased its stake in shares of WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 34,588 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 917 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. owned 0.05% of WesBanco worth $1,125,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Atria Investments Inc increased its position in WesBanco by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 23,103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $688,000 after purchasing an additional 4,269 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of WesBanco in the third quarter valued at approximately $411,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of WesBanco during the third quarter valued at approximately $428,000. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in WesBanco by 3.0% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in WesBanco in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $212,000. 61.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WSBC. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $39.00 price objective on shares of WesBanco in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded WesBanco from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $40.00 to $44.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of WesBanco from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James upgraded shares of WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $35.00 to $44.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of WesBanco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.83.

WesBanco Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of WSBC stock opened at $32.05 on Thursday. WesBanco, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.56 and a fifty-two week high of $37.36. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $33.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.96. The stock has a market cap of $2.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.31 and a beta of 0.84. 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 announced 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that WesBanco, Inc. will post 3.24 EPS for the current year.

WesBanco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid 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 4.62%. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.07%.

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.