WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) shares gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $31.55, but opened at $32.94. WesBanco shares last traded at $32.14, with a volume of 34,936 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on WSBC shares. StockNews.com raised WesBanco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised WesBanco from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of WesBanco from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James raised shares of WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $35.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $39.00 price target on shares of WesBanco in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.83.

WesBanco Trading Down 0.3 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.40 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.98.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.17. WesBanco had a net margin of 15.89% and a return on equity of 6.30%. On average, equities analysts predict that WesBanco, Inc. will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current year.

WesBanco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.59%. WesBanco’s payout ratio is 66.07%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WesBanco

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of WesBanco by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,710,539 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $218,361,000 after purchasing an additional 705,483 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in WesBanco in the third quarter valued at approximately $116,114,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in WesBanco by 1.8% during 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 buying an additional 35,030 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in WesBanco by 27.1% during the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,777,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $57,824,000 after buying an additional 379,386 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of WesBanco by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,537,252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $50,022,000 after acquiring an additional 116,796 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.41% of the company’s stock.

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.