WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) Shares Down 6% – Here’s Why

WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) shares fell 6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $33.72 and last traded at $33.5840. 466,496 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 14% from the average session volume of 541,366 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.73.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WSBC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $41.00 price objective on shares of WesBanco in a 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, Weiss Ratings raised shares of WesBanco from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.60.

WesBanco Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.85. The firm has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a PE ratio of 15.98 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $257.23 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $264.52 million. WesBanco had a return on equity of 8.81% and a net margin of 15.51%.The company’s revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that WesBanco, Inc. will post 3.73 earnings per share for the current year.

WesBanco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 6th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.43%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WesBanco

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Algebris UK Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of WesBanco during the 3rd quarter valued at about $19,863,000. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in shares of WesBanco by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 162,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,194,000 after purchasing an additional 20,269 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in shares of WesBanco by 189.5% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 124,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,962,000 after purchasing an additional 81,214 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of WesBanco by 108.0% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 150,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,765,000 after purchasing an additional 78,214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of WesBanco by 84.4% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 39,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,317,000 after purchasing an additional 18,131 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.41% of the company’s stock.

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.