WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) Position Reduced by Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) by 8.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,515 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in WesBanco were worth $523,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of WesBanco during the third quarter worth about $116,114,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in WesBanco by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,934,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $58,313,000 after buying an additional 35,030 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in WesBanco by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,419,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,268,000 after buying an additional 32,879 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of WesBanco by 25.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 695,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,712,000 after acquiring an additional 142,597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of WesBanco by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 500,890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,917,000 after acquiring an additional 11,987 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Michael L. Perkins sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.87, for a total value of $39,228.75. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WSBC. Stephens raised their price objective on WesBanco from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Raymond James upgraded shares of WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $35.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.83.

WesBanco Trading Up 3.0 %

NASDAQ:WSBC opened at $31.43 on Wednesday. WesBanco, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.56 and a 12-month high of $37.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.04 and a beta of 0.85.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last released its quarterly 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. WesBanco had a net margin of 14.79% and a return on equity of 5.75%. The business had revenue of $243.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $152.40 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that WesBanco, Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

WesBanco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.71%. This is a positive change from WesBanco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.81%.

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.