New York State Common Retirement Fund Buys 3,829 Shares of WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC)

New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 498,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,829 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in WesBanco were worth $15,641,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in WesBanco by 2,688.7% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 1,478 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 1,425 shares in the last quarter. EMC Capital Management bought a new position in WesBanco in the 3rd quarter worth about $51,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in WesBanco in the 3rd quarter worth about $223,000. Curran Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in WesBanco in the 4th quarter worth about $239,000. Finally, Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of WesBanco by 12.2% during the third quarter. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. now owns 10,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 1,092 shares in the last quarter. 61.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on WSBC shares. Raymond James upgraded shares of WesBanco from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Hovde Group dropped their price objective on shares of WesBanco from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of WesBanco from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $32.00 price objective on shares of WesBanco in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.60.

WesBanco Price Performance

Shares of WSBC opened at $27.52 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $1.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.47 and a beta of 0.86. WesBanco, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.84 and a twelve month high of $32.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a 50 day moving average of $28.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.29.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.56. The company had revenue of $225.96 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $147.81 million. WesBanco had a net margin of 17.52% and a return on equity of 6.54%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that WesBanco, Inc. will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WesBanco Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.23%. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.00%.

WesBanco 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.