WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) Receives $37.83 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $37.83.

A number of analysts have recently commented on WSBC shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of WesBanco in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Raymond James upgraded WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Stephens raised their target price on WesBanco from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th.

WesBanco Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of WSBC opened at $32.54 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.57 and a beta of 0.84. WesBanco has a 12 month low of $25.56 and a 12 month high of $37.36. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $34.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $243.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $152.40 million. WesBanco had a net margin of 14.79% and a return on equity of 5.75%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. Analysts predict that WesBanco will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WesBanco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This is a boost from WesBanco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.55%. WesBanco’s payout ratio is presently 70.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Michael L. Perkins sold 1,125 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 46,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,632,508.79. This represents a 2.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of WesBanco

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in WesBanco during the 3rd quarter valued at about $116,114,000. State Street Corp lifted its position 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 worth $58,313,000 after purchasing an additional 35,030 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of WesBanco by 2.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,419,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,268,000 after purchasing an additional 32,879 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake 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 worth $14,917,000 after buying an additional 11,987 shares during the period. 61.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.