WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on WSBC. Raymond James upgraded WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $35.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $39.00 target price on shares of WesBanco in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on WesBanco from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.17.

WesBanco Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of WesBanco stock opened at $34.32 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $33.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.31. WesBanco has a 12-month low of $25.56 and a 12-month high of $37.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of $2.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.32 and a beta of 0.84.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.17. WesBanco had a net margin of 15.89% and a return on equity of 6.30%. On average, analysts forecast that WesBanco will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at WesBanco

In other news, EVP Michael L. Perkins sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.87, for a total transaction of $39,228.75. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 46,817 shares in the company, 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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WesBanco

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in WesBanco during the 3rd quarter valued at about $116,114,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of WesBanco by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,934,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $58,313,000 after acquiring an additional 35,030 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $42,268,000 after acquiring an additional 32,879 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of WesBanco by 25.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 695,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,712,000 after acquiring an additional 142,597 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of WesBanco by 30.5% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 653,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,270,000 after acquiring an additional 152,766 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.41% of the company’s stock.

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.