WesBanco (WSBC) Competitors

Webster Financial (NYSE:WBS) and WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, institutional ownership, community ranking, earnings, profitability, dividends, media sentiment and analyst recommendations.

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of WBS or WSBC?

85.6% of Webster Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.4% of WesBanco shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Webster Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of WesBanco shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is WBS or WSBC a better dividend stock?

Webster Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. WesBanco pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. Webster Financial pays out 36.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. WesBanco pays out 66.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. WesBanco has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years. WesBanco is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts prefer WBS or WSBC?

Webster Financial currently has a consensus target price of $61.92, indicating a potential upside of 37.36%. WesBanco has a consensus target price of $39.43, indicating a potential upside of 39.32%. Given WesBanco's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe WesBanco is more favorable than Webster Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Webster Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.82
WesBanco	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in WBS or WSBC?

Webster Financial received 267 more outperform votes than WesBanco when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 58.80% of users gave Webster Financial an outperform vote while only 51.33% of users gave WesBanco an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Webster Financial	Outperform Votes 538 58.80%	Underperform Votes 377 41.20%
WesBanco	Outperform Votes 271 51.33%	Underperform Votes 257 48.67%

Is WBS or WSBC more profitable?

Webster Financial has a net margin of 18.39% compared to WesBanco's net margin of 15.89%. Webster Financial's return on equity of 10.82% beat WesBanco's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Webster Financial	18.39%	10.82%	1.21%
WesBanco	15.89%	6.30%	0.86%

Which has more risk and volatility, WBS or WSBC?

Webster Financial has a beta of 1.05, suggesting that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, WesBanco has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor WBS or WSBC?

In the previous week, WesBanco had 4 more articles in the media than Webster Financial. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for WesBanco and 9 mentions for Webster Financial. Webster Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.06 beat WesBanco's score of 0.91 indicating that Webster Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Webster Financial	8 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
WesBanco	7 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, WBS or WSBC?

Webster Financial has higher revenue and earnings than WesBanco. Webster Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than WesBanco, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Webster Financial	$2.58B	3.00	$768.71M	$4.37	10.32
WesBanco	$600.17M	3.16	$151.51M	$2.24	12.63

Summary

Webster Financial beats WesBanco on 13 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.