WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,430,000 shares, a decrease of 59.5% from the February 28th total of 3,530,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 639,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

WesBanco Stock Performance

NASDAQ WSBC opened at $30.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.78 and a beta of 0.84. 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 has a twelve month low of $25.56 and a twelve month high of $37.36. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.97.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last issued its quarterly 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 will post 3.24 EPS for the current year.

WesBanco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.80%. WesBanco’s payout ratio is 66.07%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in WesBanco during the third quarter worth $56,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in WesBanco by 807.0% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,814 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 1,614 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of WesBanco by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 603 shares in the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc acquired a new position in shares of WesBanco in the 4th quarter valued at about $78,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of WesBanco by 668.5% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 2,146 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.41% of the company’s stock.

WesBanco Company 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.