WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $38.67.

Several brokerages have recently commented on WSBC. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $39.00 price target on shares of WesBanco in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James upgraded WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $44.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th.

WesBanco Trading Up 5.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WSBC opened at $33.43 on Friday. WesBanco has a 52 week low of $25.56 and a 52 week 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 market cap of $2.24 billion, a PE ratio of 16.00 and a beta of 0.85. The company’s 50 day moving average is $33.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.04.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.17. WesBanco had a net margin of 14.79% and a return on equity of 5.75%. Equities analysts predict that WesBanco will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WesBanco Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.37 dividend. This is a boost from WesBanco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.81%.

Insider Activity

In other WesBanco news, EVP Michael L. Perkins sold 1,125 shares of WesBanco 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 in the company, valued at $1,632,508.79. The trade was a 2.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WesBanco

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quarry LP increased its stake in WesBanco by 215.3% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 913 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in WesBanco in the third quarter valued at about $56,000. CWM LLC raised its stake in WesBanco by 175.2% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,072 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 1,319 shares in the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc acquired a new position in shares of WesBanco during the fourth quarter worth $78,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of WesBanco during the third quarter worth about $80,000. 61.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.