WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $38.8333.

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of WesBanco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WesBanco

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Comerica Bank raised its position in shares of WesBanco by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 6,482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of WesBanco by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 75,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,472,000 after purchasing an additional 3,944 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in WesBanco by 36.7% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 14,158 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $461,000 after buying an additional 3,803 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new position in WesBanco in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in WesBanco by 54.3% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,611 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,582,000 after purchasing an additional 17,097 shares in the last quarter. 61.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

WesBanco Stock Down 0.8%

WSBC stock opened at $31.61 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. WesBanco has a twelve month low of $26.42 and a twelve month high of $37.36. The company’s 50 day moving average is $31.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.17. The stock has a market cap of $3.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.04 and a beta of 0.85.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $260.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $261.14 million. WesBanco had a net margin of 11.65% and a return on equity of 7.29%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. Research analysts expect that WesBanco will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WesBanco Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.7%. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.16%.

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.