164,275 Shares in WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) Purchased by Raymond James Financial Inc.

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 164,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,345,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in WesBanco during the third quarter valued at approximately $116,114,000. Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of WesBanco during the 3rd quarter valued at $12,333,000. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WesBanco by 17,801.0% during the 4th 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 last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in WesBanco by 30.5% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 653,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,270,000 after acquiring an additional 152,766 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in WesBanco by 25.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 695,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,712,000 after acquiring an additional 142,597 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.41% of the company’s stock.

WesBanco Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WSBC opened at $32.25 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. WesBanco, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.56 and a fifty-two week high of $37.36. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $33.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.98. The firm has a market cap of $2.16 billion, a PE ratio of 14.40 and a beta of 0.84.

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

WesBanco Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on WSBC shares. Raymond James upgraded WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $44.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised WesBanco from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of WesBanco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. DA Davidson upped their price objective 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. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of WesBanco in a research 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 data from MarketBeat, WesBanco has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.83.

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.