Franklin Resources Inc. Buys Shares of 37,631 WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC)

Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new position in shares of WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 37,631 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,148,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of WesBanco by 215.3% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 913 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in WesBanco by 214.5% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,384 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 944 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in WesBanco during the 3rd quarter worth $56,000. CWM LLC increased its position in WesBanco by 175.2% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,072 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 1,319 shares during the period. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in WesBanco in the third quarter valued at $80,000. 61.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Michael L. Perkins sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.87, for a total transaction of $39,228.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 46,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,632,508.79. This trade represents a 2.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 3.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WSBC shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of WesBanco in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Stephens raised their price target on shares of WesBanco from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.83.

WesBanco Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WSBC opened at $32.81 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $34.09 and a 200-day moving average of $31.39. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.70 and a beta of 0.84. WesBanco, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.56 and a twelve month high of $37.36.

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

WesBanco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.51%. This is a boost from WesBanco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.81%.

WesBanco 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.