Osaic Holdings Inc. Increases Stock Position in WesBanco, Inc. $WSBC

Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) by 108.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 150,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 78,214 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc.’s holdings in WesBanco were worth $4,765,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in WesBanco by 949.3% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,281,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,159,158 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of WesBanco by 179.7% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,543,243 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,779,000 after purchasing an additional 991,584 shares in the last quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in WesBanco in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,869,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in WesBanco by 990.1% in the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 698,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,616,000 after purchasing an additional 634,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of WesBanco by 36.9% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,045,405 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,366,000 after buying an additional 281,685 shares in the last quarter. 61.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at WesBanco

In related news, Director Zahid Afzal purchased 3,321 shares of WesBanco stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $30.11 per share, with a total value of $99,995.31. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $398,144.53. This trade represents a 33.54% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director F Eric Nelson, Jr. sold 752 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.37, for a total transaction of $25,094.24. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WSBC. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of WesBanco from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Piper Sandler started coverage on WesBanco in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $42.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of WesBanco in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen cut WesBanco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, DA Davidson cut shares of WesBanco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WesBanco presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.00.

WesBanco Stock Down 1.0%

WesBanco stock opened at $34.22 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a PE ratio of 17.46 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. WesBanco, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.42 and a fifty-two week high of $37.18. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $32.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.93.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.05. WesBanco had a return on equity of 8.28% and a net margin of 13.91%.The business had revenue of $261.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $263.38 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that WesBanco, Inc. will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current year.

WesBanco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a boost from WesBanco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.55%.

WesBanco Profile

WesBanco, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Wheeling, West Virginia, offering a full range of community banking services through its principal subsidiary, WesBanco Bank, Inc The company serves individual consumers, small‐ to mid‐sized businesses, nonprofit organizations and governmental entities with a relationship‐driven approach and an emphasis on local decision‐making. Through its diversified platform, WesBanco provides core banking functions such as deposit accounts, commercial and consumer lending, mortgage banking, treasury management and electronic banking services.

In addition to traditional banking products, WesBanco offers specialized services including trust and wealth management, investment advisory and insurance solutions.