Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Buys New Position in WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 9,913 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $323,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of WesBanco in the third quarter worth approximately $56,000. Principal Securities Inc. grew its stake in WesBanco by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 603 shares during the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc acquired a new stake in shares of WesBanco in the fourth quarter valued at about $78,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of WesBanco by 668.5% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 2,146 shares during the period. Finally, Hilltop National Bank boosted its holdings in WesBanco by 19.6% in the 4th quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 2,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the period. 61.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

WesBanco Stock Performance

WSBC opened at $30.92 on Friday. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 billion, a PE ratio of 13.80 and a beta of 0.84. WesBanco, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.56 and a 52-week high of $37.36.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 EPS 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that WesBanco, Inc. will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WesBanco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. WesBanco’s payout ratio is 66.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.