KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Purchases 8,630 Shares of WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC)

Key Points

• KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its stake in WesBanco, Inc. by 67.2%, holding a total of 21,463 shares valued at approximately $670,000.
• WesBanco recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.37 per share, representing an annualized dividend of $1.48 and a yield of 4.65%.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on WesBanco, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $38.83 despite recent price objective reductions by multiple firms.

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its holdings in shares of WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC - Free Report) by 67.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,463 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 8,630 shares during the quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS's holdings in WesBanco were worth $670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in WesBanco during the 1st quarter worth $1,628,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its stake in WesBanco by 157.7% during the 1st quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 15,904 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $492,000 after buying an additional 9,733 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in WesBanco by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 23,853 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $738,000 after buying an additional 980 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC raised its stake in shares of WesBanco by 14.2% in the 1st quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 891,580 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $27,603,000 after purchasing an additional 111,136 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of WesBanco by 246.9% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,766 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $148,000 after purchasing an additional 3,392 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WSBC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on WesBanco from $36.00 to $34.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on WesBanco from $43.00 to $40.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Three equities 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, WesBanco presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $38.83.

WesBanco Stock Performance

WesBanco stock traded down $0.62 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $29.51. 765,116 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 609,957. WesBanco, Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.42 and a 52 week high of $37.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market cap of $2.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.78 and a beta of 0.85. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $31.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.86.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. WesBanco had a return on equity of 7.72% and a net margin of 11.65%. The business had revenue of $260.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $261.14 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that WesBanco, Inc. will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WesBanco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th were issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. WesBanco's payout ratio is currently 89.16%.

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.