Share Repurchase Plan Initiated by WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC)

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 20th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase 4,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on WSBC. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $41.00 price target on shares of WesBanco in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Zacks Research lowered shares of WesBanco from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of WesBanco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of WesBanco from $42.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $41.00 price target on shares of WesBanco in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.50.

WesBanco Stock Performance

WSBC stock traded up $0.74 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $34.17. The stock had a trading volume of 553,023 shares, compared to its average volume of 691,593. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.13. The stock has a market cap of $3.29 billion, a PE ratio of 11.02 and a beta of 0.69. WesBanco has a 52-week low of $29.18 and a 52-week high of $38.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.92.

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $257.23 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $264.52 million. WesBanco had a return on equity of 9.76% and a net margin of 21.12%.WesBanco’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that WesBanco will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph R. Robinson bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $34.54 per share, with a total value of $34,540.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 19,068 shares in the company, valued at $658,608.72. The trade was a 5.53% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Louis Michael Altman bought 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $33.72 per share, for a total transaction of $101,160.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 33,164 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,118,290.08. This represents a 9.95% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders bought a total of 7,940 shares of company stock valued at $267,299 in the last three months. 2.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

WesBanco Company 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.