GW&K Investment Management LLC Decreases Stake in WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC)

GW&K Investment Management LLC cut its stake in shares of WesBanco, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSBC) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 69,628 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,545 shares during the quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC owned about 0.12% of WesBanco worth $2,184,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of WesBanco by 3,037.0% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 102,549 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,269,000 after buying an additional 99,280 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. acquired a new position in shares of WesBanco in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,196,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in WesBanco by 16.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 762,966 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,632,000 after acquiring an additional 106,300 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in WesBanco by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,979,494 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $146,019,000 after acquiring an additional 71,928 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in WesBanco by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 27,636 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $675,000 after acquiring an additional 3,685 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WSBC. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $32.00 price objective on shares of WesBanco in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of WesBanco from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Hovde Group lowered their target price on shares of WesBanco from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, WesBanco has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.60.

WesBanco Price Performance

WesBanco stock opened at $28.44 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.85 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $28.32 and a 200-day moving average of $28.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. WesBanco, Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.00 and a 52-week high of $32.20.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.56. WesBanco had a return on equity of 6.50% and a net margin of 17.52%. The firm had revenue of $225.96 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $147.81 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that WesBanco, Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

WesBanco Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.06%. WesBanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.00%.

About WesBanco

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.