WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) Issues Earnings Results

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) released its earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.17, Zacks reports. WesBanco had a return on equity of 6.30% and a net margin of 15.89%.

WesBanco Trading Up 5.3 %

NASDAQ:WSBC opened at $33.43 on Friday. WesBanco has a 52-week low of $25.56 and a 52-week high of $37.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.04. The company has a market capitalization of $2.24 billion, a PE ratio of 14.92 and a beta of 0.85.

WesBanco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.37 dividend. This is a positive change from WesBanco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.43%. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio is 66.07%.

Insider Activity at WesBanco

In other WesBanco news, EVP Michael L. Perkins sold 1,125 shares of WesBanco stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.87, for a total transaction of $39,228.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 46,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,632,508.79. The trade was a 2.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 3.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WSBC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $39.00 price objective on shares of WesBanco in a report on Thursday. Raymond James upgraded shares of WesBanco from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, WesBanco presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.67.

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.