WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $40.83.

WSBC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of WesBanco from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of WesBanco in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. DA Davidson lifted their price objective 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of WesBanco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th.

Institutional Trading of WesBanco

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WSBC. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of WesBanco in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $56,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of WesBanco by 807.0% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,814 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 1,614 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of WesBanco by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 603 shares in the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new stake in shares of WesBanco in the 4th quarter worth approximately $78,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of WesBanco by 668.5% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 2,146 shares in the last quarter. 61.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

WesBanco Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ WSBC opened at $32.05 on Friday. WesBanco has a one year low of $25.56 and a one year high of $37.36. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.96. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $2.15 billion, a PE ratio of 14.31 and a beta of 0.84.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last posted 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 15.89% and a return on equity of 6.30%. On average, equities analysts forecast that WesBanco will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current year.

WesBanco Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.62%. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.07%.

WesBanco Company 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.