GWN Securities Inc. Purchases New Stake in WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC)

GWN Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 8,420 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $288,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in WesBanco during the 3rd quarter worth $116,114,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in WesBanco by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,934,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $58,313,000 after acquiring an additional 35,030 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in WesBanco by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,419,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,268,000 after acquiring an additional 32,879 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in WesBanco by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 872,035 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,376,000 after acquiring an additional 50,704 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in WesBanco by 25.8% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. 61.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WesBanco Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of WesBanco stock opened at $31.98 on Tuesday. WesBanco, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.56 and a 52-week high of $37.36. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.28 and a beta of 0.84. 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 (NASDAQ:WSBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that WesBanco, Inc. will post 3.24 EPS for the current year.

WesBanco Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders 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 4.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. WesBanco’s payout ratio is presently 66.07%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on WSBC. Raymond James raised shares of WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $44.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $39.00 target price on shares of WesBanco in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded WesBanco from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on WesBanco from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded WesBanco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.