WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 2,428,796 shares, a growth of 25.4% from the February 26th total of 1,937,460 shares. Approximately 2.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 577,247 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.2 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WesBanco

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WSBC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of WesBanco by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,819,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $326,399,000 after purchasing an additional 224,107 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of WesBanco by 0.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,663,315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $117,109,000 after buying an additional 14,147 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of WesBanco by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,764,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $91,883,000 after buying an additional 332,585 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in WesBanco by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,356,011 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $78,325,000 after purchasing an additional 15,673 shares during the period. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC increased its stake in shares of WesBanco by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 1,872,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,230,000 after buying an additional 21,621 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WSBC. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $41.00 price target on shares of WesBanco in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of WesBanco from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of WesBanco in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $44.00 target price for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of WesBanco in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $42.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.60.

WesBanco Trading Up 2.3%

NASDAQ WSBC opened at $34.49 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.46. WesBanco has a twelve month low of $26.42 and a twelve month high of $38.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.66 and a beta of 0.79.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84. The firm had revenue of $265.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $265.53 million. WesBanco had a return on equity of 8.81% and a net margin of 15.51%.During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. Research analysts forecast that WesBanco will post 3.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WesBanco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.43%.

WesBanco Company Profile

WesBanco, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Wheeling, West Virginia, offering a full range of community banking services through its principal subsidiary, WesBanco Bank, Inc The company serves individual consumers, small? to mid?sized businesses, nonprofit organizations and governmental entities with a relationship?driven approach and an emphasis on local decision?making. Through its diversified platform, WesBanco provides core banking functions such as deposit accounts, commercial and consumer lending, mortgage banking, treasury management and electronic banking services.

In addition to traditional banking products, WesBanco offers specialized services including trust and wealth management, investment advisory and insurance solutions.