18,000 Shares in WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) Purchased by RiverFront Investment Group LLC

RiverFront Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 18,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $586,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in WesBanco by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,710,539 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $218,361,000 after purchasing an additional 705,483 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of WesBanco in the 3rd quarter valued at about $116,114,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of WesBanco by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,934,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $58,313,000 after buying an additional 35,030 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in WesBanco by 2.4% during the third 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 period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in WesBanco by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 872,035 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,376,000 after acquiring an additional 50,704 shares in the last quarter. 61.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on WSBC shares. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of WesBanco in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of WesBanco from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of WesBanco from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $44.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Raymond James upgraded WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $35.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded WesBanco from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Three equities research 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 company. According to MarketBeat, WesBanco has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.83.

WesBanco Stock Down 3.0 %

WSBC opened at $30.86 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.56 and a twelve month high of $37.36. The company has a market cap of $2.07 billion, a PE ratio of 13.78 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $33.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.98.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.17. WesBanco had a return on equity of 6.30% and a net margin of 15.89%. Sell-side analysts expect that WesBanco, Inc. will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WesBanco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.80%. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.07%.

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.