WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $39.00 price objective on shares of WesBanco in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. DA Davidson raised their price objective on WesBanco from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Raymond James raised WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Four 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.17.

WesBanco Stock Performance

Shares of WSBC stock opened at $35.67 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $33.61 and a 200 day moving average of $32.37. WesBanco has a 52 week low of $25.56 and a 52 week high of $37.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.92 and a beta of 0.84. 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 (NASDAQ:WSBC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.17. WesBanco had a return on equity of 6.30% and a net margin of 15.89%. As a group, research analysts expect that WesBanco will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

WesBanco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This is an increase from WesBanco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.15%. WesBanco’s payout ratio is presently 66.07%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in shares of WesBanco by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 22,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $744,000 after buying an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank lifted its stake in WesBanco by 19.6% in the 4th quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 2,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its stake in 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. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in WesBanco by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 17,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in WesBanco by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 11,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $387,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.41% of the company’s stock.

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.