WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) Short Interest Up 25.4% in March

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

WesBanco Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WSBC opened at $33.37 on Monday. WesBanco has a 1 year low of $26.42 and a 1 year high of $38.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.12 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a fifty day moving average of $35.12 and a 200-day moving average of $33.43. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84. The business had revenue of $265.78 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $265.53 million. WesBanco had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 8.81%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that WesBanco will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current year.

WesBanco Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. WesBanco’s payout ratio 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.