WesBanco’s (WSBC) Market Perform Rating Reiterated at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated their market perform rating on shares of WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) in a research report report published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a $42.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.

WSBC has been the subject of a number of other reports. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $41.00 price target on shares of WesBanco in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of WesBanco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of WesBanco from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of WesBanco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.20.

WesBanco Trading Up 2.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:WSBC opened at $41.25 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.91. WesBanco has a 1 year low of $29.18 and a 1 year high of $41.31. The company has a market cap of $3.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.99 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $37.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.69.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.07. WesBanco had a return on equity of 9.72% and a net margin of 23.35%.The company had revenue of $275.79 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $267.71 million. Sell-side analysts expect that WesBanco will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

WesBanco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. WesBanco’s payout ratio is presently 44.19%.

WesBanco announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 20th that allows the company to buyback 4,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at WesBanco

In other WesBanco news, EVP Jan Pattishall-Krupinski sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.71, for a total value of $165,195.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 35,924 shares in the company, valued at $1,318,770.04. This represents a 11.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph R. Robinson purchased 1,000 shares of WesBanco stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The stock was bought at an average price of $34.54 per share, with a total value of $34,540.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 19,068 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $658,608.72. This represents a 5.53% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 2.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in WesBanco by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,819,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $326,399,000 after acquiring an additional 224,107 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of WesBanco by 1.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,451,344 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $188,013,000 after purchasing an additional 59,077 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of WesBanco by 0.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,663,315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $117,109,000 after purchasing an additional 14,147 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of WesBanco by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,764,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $91,883,000 after purchasing an additional 332,585 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of WesBanco by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,356,011 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $78,325,000 after purchasing an additional 15,673 shares in the last quarter. 61.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About WesBanco

WesBanco, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Wheeling, West Virginia, offering a full range of community banking services through its principal subsidiary, WesBanco Bank, Inc The company serves individual consumers, small‐ to mid‐sized businesses, nonprofit organizations and governmental entities with a relationship‐driven approach and an emphasis on local decision‐making. Through its diversified platform, WesBanco provides core banking functions such as deposit accounts, commercial and consumer lending, mortgage banking, treasury management and electronic banking services.

In addition to traditional banking products, WesBanco offers specialized services including trust and wealth management, investment advisory and insurance solutions.