Avantax Planning Partners Inc. Buys 756 Shares of WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC)

Avantax Planning Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 48,473 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 756 shares during the period. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of WesBanco worth $1,577,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $42,268,000 after buying an additional 32,879 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new stake in WesBanco during the third quarter valued at about $1,148,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in WesBanco by 25.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 695,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,712,000 after buying an additional 142,597 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in WesBanco during the third quarter valued at about $212,000. Finally, Magnolia Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in WesBanco during the fourth quarter valued at about $269,000. 61.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

WesBanco Price Performance

WSBC stock opened at $30.56 on Wednesday. WesBanco, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.56 and a 1 year high of $37.36. The company has a market cap of $2.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.64 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $33.86 and a 200 day moving average of $32.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.17. WesBanco had a net margin of 15.89% and a return on equity of 6.30%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that WesBanco, Inc. will post 3.24 EPS for the current year.

WesBanco Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.84%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. WesBanco’s payout ratio is currently 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.