WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) Upgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Friday.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Raymond James raised WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $35.00 to $44.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of WesBanco in a research note on Thursday. Four 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.67.

WesBanco Stock Up 2.2 %

WSBC stock opened at $34.16 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.25 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. WesBanco has a twelve month low of $25.56 and a twelve month high of $37.36. The company’s 50 day moving average is $33.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.12.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 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%. Research analysts expect that WesBanco will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at WesBanco

In related news, EVP Michael L. Perkins sold 1,125 shares of WesBanco stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $1,632,508.79. This trade represents a 2.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of WesBanco

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WSBC. MCF Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of WesBanco by 17,801.0% during the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 170,955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,626,000 after acquiring an additional 170,000 shares during the period. Roble Belko & Company Inc purchased a new stake in WesBanco in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $78,000. Moody National Bank Trust Division raised its stake in shares of WesBanco by 33.0% during the 4th quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 29,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $972,000 after buying an additional 7,405 shares in the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of WesBanco by 19.6% in the 4th quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 2,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 413 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of WesBanco by 17.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 232,568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,926,000 after buying an additional 34,008 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.41% of the company’s stock.

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.