Brokerages Set WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) PT at $37.83

Shares of WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $37.83.

WSBC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of WesBanco in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Raymond James upgraded shares of WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $44.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Stephens boosted their target price on shares of WesBanco from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th.

Insider Activity at WesBanco

In related news, EVP Michael L. Perkins sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was 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 directly owns 46,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,632,508.79. This represents a 2.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WesBanco

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WSBC. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in WesBanco during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $116,114,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 35,030 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of WesBanco by 2.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,419,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,268,000 after purchasing an additional 32,879 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of WesBanco by 25.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 695,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,712,000 after purchasing an additional 142,597 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in WesBanco by 2.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 11,987 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.41% of the company’s stock.

WesBanco Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WSBC opened at $32.04 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.66. 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 company has a market cap of $2.14 billion, a PE ratio of 15.33 and a beta of 0.85. WesBanco has a 12 month low of $25.56 and a 12 month high of $37.36.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $243.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $152.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that WesBanco will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

WesBanco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.62%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This is an increase from WesBanco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio is 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.