WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) Given “Equal Weight” Rating at Stephens

Stephens reiterated their equal weight rating on shares of WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) in a report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $39.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

Separately, Raymond James upgraded shares of WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $35.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, WesBanco currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.67.

WesBanco Price Performance

NASDAQ WSBC opened at $33.43 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.92 and a beta of 0.85. WesBanco has a 1 year low of $25.56 and a 1 year 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.04.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.17. WesBanco had a return on equity of 6.30% and a net margin of 15.89%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that WesBanco will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

WesBanco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This is a boost from WesBanco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.43%. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Michael L. Perkins sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.87, for a total transaction of $39,228.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 46,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,632,508.79. This represents a 2.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of WesBanco

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 913 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of WesBanco in the 3rd quarter valued at about $56,000. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of WesBanco by 175.2% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,072 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 1,319 shares during the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new stake in shares of WesBanco in the 4th quarter valued at about $78,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in WesBanco in the 3rd quarter valued at about $80,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.41% of the company’s stock.

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.