Fourthstone LLC Acquires Shares of 16,600 WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC)

Fourthstone LLC bought a new stake in shares of WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 16,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $494,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WSBC. FMR LLC lifted its position in WesBanco by 25.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 695,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,712,000 after acquiring an additional 142,597 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of WesBanco by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 500,890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,917,000 after purchasing an additional 11,987 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in WesBanco by 4.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 490,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,685,000 after buying an additional 21,297 shares during the last quarter. F M Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of WesBanco during the 3rd quarter valued at about $7,726,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in WesBanco by 2.7% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 227,429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,348,000 after purchasing an additional 6,043 shares in the last quarter. 61.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at WesBanco

In other news, EVP Michael L. Perkins sold 1,125 shares of WesBanco stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WSBC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of WesBanco from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of WesBanco in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of WesBanco from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $36.17.

WesBanco Trading Down 0.4 %

WSBC traded down $0.13 during trading on Thursday, hitting $35.45. 326,886 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 381,631. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.31. The firm has a market cap of $2.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.96 and a beta of 0.81. WesBanco, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.56 and a 1 year high of $37.36.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.03. WesBanco had a net margin of 14.79% and a return on equity of 5.75%. The company had revenue of $243.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $152.40 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that WesBanco, Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

WesBanco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.37 dividend. This is a positive change from WesBanco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. WesBanco’s payout ratio is currently 68.90%.

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.