Founders Financial Securities LLC Increases Stock Holdings in WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC)

Founders Financial Securities LLC increased its holdings in WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) by 6.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,612 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 436 shares during the quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC’s holdings in WesBanco were worth $227,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WSBC. FMR LLC lifted its stake in WesBanco by 3,621.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 510,682 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,471,000 after acquiring an additional 496,958 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in WesBanco in the fourth quarter worth $8,620,000. Earnest Partners LLC raised its holdings in WesBanco by 10.5% in the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,484,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,258,000 after purchasing an additional 140,870 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in WesBanco by 100.0% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 235,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,746,000 after purchasing an additional 117,635 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in WesBanco by 3,037.0% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 102,549 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,269,000 after purchasing an additional 99,280 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on WSBC. Hovde Group decreased their price objective on WesBanco from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $32.00 price target on shares of WesBanco in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Stephens reduced their price target on WesBanco from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WesBanco currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.60.

WesBanco Price Performance

NASDAQ WSBC opened at $27.91 on Monday. WesBanco, Inc. has a one year low of $23.00 and a one year high of $32.20. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $27.49 and a 200 day moving average of $28.68. The company has a market capitalization of $1.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.56. The business had revenue of $225.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $147.81 million. WesBanco had a return on equity of 6.50% and a net margin of 17.52%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that WesBanco, Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

WesBanco Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.16%. WesBanco’s payout ratio is 60.00%.

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.