WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) Short Interest Update

WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,540,000 shares, a growth of 32.3% from the December 31st total of 1,920,000 shares. Approximately 3.9% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 401,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.3 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other WesBanco news, EVP Michael L. Perkins sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 trade represents a 2.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of WesBanco

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in WesBanco in the third quarter valued at approximately $116,114,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of WesBanco by 1.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 35,030 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 32,879 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 142,597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of WesBanco by 30.5% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 653,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,270,000 after acquiring an additional 152,766 shares in the last quarter. 61.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WSBC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James raised WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $44.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com raised WesBanco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of WesBanco in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price objective on WesBanco from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.17.

WesBanco Stock Up 0.1 %

WesBanco stock opened at $35.04 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.64 and a beta of 0.85. WesBanco has a 52 week low of $25.56 and a 52 week high of $37.36. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $33.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.30. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.37 dividend. This is a positive change from WesBanco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.07%.

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.