WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) Short Interest Down 59.5% in March

WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,430,000 shares, a decline of 59.5% from the February 28th total of 3,530,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 639,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

WesBanco Stock Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ:WSBC opened at $31.92 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. WesBanco has a 12-month low of $25.56 and a 12-month high of $37.36. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.25 and a beta of 0.84.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last issued its 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 return on equity of 6.30% and a net margin of 15.89%. Equities research analysts expect that WesBanco 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. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.64%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.07%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WesBanco

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of WesBanco in the 3rd quarter valued at $411,000. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in WesBanco by 3.0% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 30,049 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $895,000 after acquiring an additional 867 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in WesBanco in the third quarter valued at about $212,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of WesBanco by 25.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 695,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,712,000 after acquiring an additional 142,597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP raised its position in shares of WesBanco by 2,061.7% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 12,603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $375,000 after purchasing an additional 12,020 shares during the period. 61.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.