WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) Given New $45.00 Price Target at DA Davidson

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) had its price target lifted by DA Davidson from $44.00 to $45.00 in a research note released on Monday,Benzinga reports. DA Davidson currently has a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Raymond James raised WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $35.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of WesBanco in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of WesBanco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.17.

WesBanco Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WSBC opened at $35.30 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.19. WesBanco has a fifty-two week low of $25.56 and a fifty-two week high of $37.36. The company has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.76 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts expect that WesBanco will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WesBanco Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.19%. This is a boost from WesBanco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.07%.

Insider Transactions at WesBanco

In other 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 transaction of $39,228.75. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 3.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of WesBanco

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WSBC. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in shares of WesBanco during the 3rd quarter valued at $116,114,000. Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in WesBanco during the third quarter valued at $12,333,000. F M Investments LLC bought a new stake in WesBanco during the third quarter valued at about $7,726,000. MCF Advisors LLC increased its position in WesBanco by 17,801.0% in the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 170,955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,626,000 after buying an additional 170,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised 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 worth $20,712,000 after buying an additional 142,597 shares during the period. 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.