Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Upgrades WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) to “Outperform”

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report issued on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has $44.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $40.00.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of WesBanco from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of WesBanco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Raymond James upgraded shares of WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of WesBanco in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, WesBanco currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.83.

WesBanco Stock Down 2.0 %

NASDAQ:WSBC opened at $36.34 on Monday. WesBanco has a fifty-two week low of $25.56 and a fifty-two week high of $37.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.22 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.45.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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, equities analysts anticipate that WesBanco will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WesBanco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This is a positive change from WesBanco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.07%. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.07%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WesBanco

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. raised its position in WesBanco by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 15,956 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $519,000 after buying an additional 1,584 shares during the last quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP raised its position in WesBanco by 33.2% during the 4th quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 37,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,220,000 after buying an additional 9,340 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in shares of WesBanco by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 20,201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $657,000 after purchasing an additional 2,600 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new position in shares of WesBanco during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $757,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of WesBanco by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,502,057 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,888,000 after purchasing an additional 82,987 shares in the last quarter. 61.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.