GAMMA Investing LLC Increases Position in WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC)

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) by 8,441.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,909 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in WesBanco were worth $618,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WSBC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of WesBanco by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,710,539 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $218,361,000 after purchasing an additional 705,483 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of WesBanco by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,777,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $57,824,000 after purchasing an additional 379,386 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of WesBanco by 104.8% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 371,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,084,000 after purchasing an additional 190,022 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of WesBanco in the fourth quarter worth $5,345,000. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its stake in shares of WesBanco by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 780,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,396,000 after purchasing an additional 156,903 shares in the last quarter. 61.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WSBC. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on shares of WesBanco from $44.00 to $38.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of WesBanco in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $37.00 price target on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of WesBanco from $43.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of WesBanco from $36.00 to $34.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.71.

WesBanco Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WSBC opened at $30.13 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company has a fifty day moving average of $30.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a PE ratio of 19.69 and a beta of 0.85. WesBanco, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.09 and a fifty-two week high of $37.36.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $253.23 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $206.63 million. WesBanco had a net margin of 10.52% and a return on equity of 6.07%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that WesBanco, Inc. will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WesBanco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.91%. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 96.73%.

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.