Swiss National Bank Increases Position in WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC)

Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 117,145 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.18% of WesBanco worth $3,812,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in WesBanco in the third quarter worth about $116,114,000. Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new position in shares of WesBanco during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $12,333,000. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its position in WesBanco by 17,801.0% during the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 170,955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,626,000 after acquiring an additional 170,000 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in WesBanco in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,345,000. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in WesBanco by 30.5% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 653,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,270,000 after purchasing an additional 152,766 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WSBC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James raised 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 research report on Friday, December 6th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $39.00 price target on shares of WesBanco in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of WesBanco from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of WesBanco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of WesBanco from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, WesBanco presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.83.

WesBanco Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WSBC opened at $32.25 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. WesBanco, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.56 and a 52-week high of $37.36. The stock has a market cap of $2.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.40 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $33.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.98.

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 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%. Equities analysts predict that WesBanco, Inc. will post 3.24 EPS for the current year.

WesBanco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.59%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. WesBanco’s payout ratio is 66.07%.

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.