WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) Short Interest Down 59.5% in March

WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of 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. Currently, 1.5% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 639,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WesBanco

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WSBC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of WesBanco by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,710,539 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $218,361,000 after purchasing an additional 705,483 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in WesBanco during the third quarter worth approximately $116,114,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in WesBanco by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,934,453 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $58,313,000 after buying an additional 35,030 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of WesBanco by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,777,002 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $57,824,000 after acquiring an additional 379,386 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of WesBanco by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,537,252 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $50,022,000 after acquiring an additional 116,796 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.41% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on WSBC shares. Raymond James raised shares of WesBanco from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $35.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded WesBanco from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised WesBanco from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the company 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 price objective on shares of WesBanco in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of WesBanco from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $40.83.

WesBanco Stock Down 3.0 %

NASDAQ WSBC traded down $0.97 during trading on Friday, reaching $30.86. 515,387 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 373,162. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $33.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.00. The stock has a market cap of $2.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.78 and a beta of 0.84. WesBanco has a 1 year low of $25.56 and a 1 year high of $37.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that WesBanco will post 3.24 EPS for the current fiscal 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 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 66.07%.

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.