Raymond James Upgrades WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) to “Strong-Buy”

Raymond James upgraded shares of WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. Raymond James currently has $44.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $35.00.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on WSBC. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of WesBanco from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of WesBanco in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, WesBanco has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.83.

WesBanco Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WSBC opened at $36.32 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of $2.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.38 and a beta of 0.84. WesBanco has a 52-week low of $25.56 and a 52-week high of $37.36. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.70.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $243.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $152.40 million. WesBanco had a net margin of 14.79% and a return on equity of 5.75%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that WesBanco will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WesBanco Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This is a positive change from WesBanco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.90%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Michael L. Perkins sold 1,125 shares of WesBanco stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.87, for a total value of $39,228.75. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 46,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,632,508.79. The trade was a 2.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 3.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of WesBanco

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Comerica Bank grew its stake in WesBanco by 27.5% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 5,382 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $160,000 after buying an additional 1,162 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of WesBanco by 64.0% during the second quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $340,000 after purchasing an additional 4,760 shares in the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank boosted its position in shares of WesBanco by 31.7% in the second quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 14,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $406,000 after buying an additional 3,500 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its holdings in shares of WesBanco by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 17,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $485,000 after buying an additional 647 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of WesBanco by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 490,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,685,000 after buying an additional 21,297 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.