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WHEELING, W.Va. , Dec. 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- WesBanco, Inc. ("WesBanco") (Nasdaq: WSBC) and Premier Financial Corp. ("Premier") (Nasdaq: PFC) today announced that WesBanco's shareholders and Premier's shareholders have each voted overwhelmingly to adopt and approve, as applicable, all proposals relating to the previously announced merger agreement for WesBanco to acquire Premier. The votes were held at the respective special meetings of WesBanco's shareholders and Premier's shareholders today. Approximately 85% of the votes cast at WesBanco's special meeting voted to approve the merger and to approve the proposal to issue shares of WesBanco common stock as described in the joint proxy statement/prospectus for the special meeting, and approximately 68% of the outstanding shares of Premier common stock voted to approve the proposal to adopt the merger agreement. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.Global Endpoint Backup Software Market Size, Share and Forecast By Key Players-Backblaze, Asigra, Acronis, Druva, Datto
Syria’s Assad is in Moscow after deal on safety of military bases, say Russian news agencies
Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Mercantile Bank Co. ( NASDAQ:MBWM – Free Report ) by 99.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,423 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.20% of Mercantile Bank worth $1,441,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Inspire Investing LLC increased its holdings in Mercantile Bank by 218.8% in the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 29,820 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,210,000 after buying an additional 20,465 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Mercantile Bank by 132.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 21,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $938,000 after purchasing an additional 12,239 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Mercantile Bank by 108.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 174,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,074,000 after purchasing an additional 90,802 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Mercantile Bank by 83.7% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 31,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,368,000 after purchasing an additional 14,263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, De Lisle Partners LLP boosted its position in Mercantile Bank by 46.9% during the third quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP now owns 55,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,417,000 after purchasing an additional 17,649 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.63% of the company’s stock. Mercantile Bank Trading Down 1.7 % Shares of MBWM opened at $44.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Mercantile Bank Co. has a 1-year low of $33.46 and a 1-year high of $52.98. The stock has a market cap of $722.84 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.99 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.58. Mercantile Bank Dividend Announcement The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Mercantile Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.92%. Analyst Ratings Changes Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Mercantile Bank from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on MBWM Insider Activity In other news, Director Robert B. Kaminski sold 5,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.75, for a total transaction of $300,150.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 19,810 shares in the company, valued at $1,025,167.50. This trade represents a 22.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link . Insiders sold a total of 10,550 shares of company stock valued at $531,660 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.08% of the company’s stock. About Mercantile Bank ( Free Report ) Mercantile Bank Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Mercantile Bank of Michigan that provides commercial and retail banking services to small- to medium-sized businesses and individuals in the United States. It accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, and term certificate accounts; time deposits; and certificates of deposit. Featured Articles Five stocks we like better than Mercantile Bank How to Invest in Tech Stocks and Top Tech Stocks to Consider Buffett Takes the Bait; Berkshire Buys More Oxy in December How to Calculate Stock Profit Top 3 ETFs to Hedge Against Inflation in 2025 How to Effectively Use the MarketBeat Ratings Screener These 3 Chip Stock Kings Are Still Buys for 2025 Receive News & Ratings for Mercantile Bank Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Mercantile Bank and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .Quebec provincial police have ended the Amber Alert issued earlier on Wednesday for a nine-year-old boy. The Sûreté du Québec said at 5:45 p.m. that the child was found safe and sound in Montreal. The alert, which was issued just before 5 p.m., had said that the child was abducted from the Montérégie region. Police said their investigation continues and more details would be released at a later time. Shopping Trends The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at CTV News. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop. Read about us. 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These LEGO Kits Are On Sale And Ready To Gift Black Friday May Be Over, But You Can Still Take Advantage Of These Amazing Sales On Amazon Canada It's Officially Travel Tuesday: Here Are The Best Deals On Flights, Hotels, And Vacations Montreal Top Stories Montreal billionaire Robert Miller facing new sex charges Quebec hockey referees speak out about being subjected to violence on the ice Montreal plans to turn Molson Brewery site into residential neighbourhood Quebec launching investigations into 3 Montreal schools over religion Amber Alert ends after child, 9, found safe, police say Dorval apartment building evacuated after fire breaks out 5 suspected organized crime figures arrested for 3 Montreal and Quebec homicides RCMP arrest young Quebec man for antisemitic hate speech CTVNews.ca Top Stories BREAKING | Ontario Premier Doug Ford threatens to cut off energy to U.S. in response to Trump's tariffs Ontario Premier Doug Ford threatened to cut off energy supply to the U.S. in response to the tariffs President-elect Donald Trump plans to impose on all Canadian imports. 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Police locate labyrinth of tunnels connecting tents to generator in Hamilton encampment Hamilton police say that they discovered a series of 'man-made holes and tunnels' during a patrol of a downtown encampment earlier this week. Luxury real estate brokers charged in federal indictment with sex trafficking in NYC Two luxury real estate brokers and their brother have been charged with luring, drugging and violently raping dozens of women over more than a decade. Certain foods may disrupt your body's fight against cancer cells, study says The food you eat may be affecting your body’s ability to fight cancer cells in the colon, according to a new study. What happens next with Alex Jones' Infowars? No certainty yet after sale to The Onion is rejected The Onion's rejected purchase of Infowars in an auction bid supported by families of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting dealt them a new setback Wednesday and clouded the future of Alex Jones' conspiracy theory platform, which is now poised to remain in his control for at least the near future. Canada Post strike: Talks deadlocked as sides clash on wages Negotiations between Canada Post and the union representing its workers appear to be in a deadlock as the two sides remain far apart on wages and other issues. Toronto Police locate labyrinth of tunnels connecting tents to generator in Hamilton encampment Hamilton police say that they discovered a series of 'man-made holes and tunnels' during a patrol of a downtown encampment earlier this week. 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Driver receives $10K in fines for speeding 134 km/h over speed limit on Highway 174 in Ottawa, police say An Ottawa driver faces $10,000 in fines and is banned from driving for two years after being observed going 134 km/h over the speed limit on Highway 174. Canada Post workers rally at headquarters as strike enters fourth week Canada Post workers are continuing their fight for a deal as their strike stretches into its fourth week. Atlantic Officer receives suspension after two Mi'kmaq elver fishers left without boots A federal fisheries officer has been suspended for 10 days without pay for his role in arresting two Mi'kmaq elver fishers late at night and releasing them in only their socked feet. Truro man wanted on provincewide warrant: N.S. RCMP The RCMP is searching for a man from Truro, N.S., who is wanted on a provincewide warrant. 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NEW ORLEANS — A scruffy little fugitive is on the lam again in New Orleans, gaining fame as he outwits a tenacious band of citizens armed with night-vision binoculars, nets and a tranquilizer rifle. Scrim, a 17-pound mutt that's mostly terrier, has become a folk hero, inspiring tattoos, T-shirts and even a ballad as he eludes capture from the posse of volunteers. And like any antihero, Scrim has a backstory: Rescued from semi-feral life at a trailer park and adopted from a shelter, the dog broke loose in April and scurried around the city until he was cornered in October and brought to a new home. Weeks later, he'd had enough. Scrim leaped out of a second-story window, a desperate act recorded in a now-viral video. Since then, despite a stream of daily sightings, he's roamed free. The dog’s fans include Myra and Steve Foster, who wrote “Ode to Scrim” to the tune of Ricky Nelson’s 1961 hit, “I’m a Travelin’ Man.” Michelle Cheramie, founder of Zeus' Rescues, at her office in New Orleans on Dec. 9 with a whiteboard index of sheltered cats and dogs and a Scrim look-alike recuperating in the background. Leading the recapture effort is Michelle Cheramie, a 55-year-old former information technology professional. She lost everything — home, car, possessions — in Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and in the aftermath, found her calling rescuing pets. “I was like, ‘This is what I should be doing,’” Cheramie said. “I was born to rescue.” She launched Zeus’ Rescues, a nonprofit shelter that now averages 600 cat and dog adoptions a year and offers free pet food to anyone who needs it. She helped Scrim find the home he first escaped from. It was Cheramie's window Scrim leaped from in November. She's resumed her relentless mission since then, posting flyers on telephone poles and logging social media updates on his reported whereabouts. She's invested thousands of dollars on wildlife cameras, thermal sensors and other gear. She took a course offered by the San Diego Zoo on the finer points of tranquilizing animals. And she's developed a network of volunteers — the kind of neighbors who are willing to grid-search a city at 3 a.m. Scrim on Oct. 24 at the Metairie Small Animal Hospital in Metairie, La. People like writer David W. Brown, who manages a crowd-sourced Google Map of all known Scrim sightings. He says the search galvanized residents from all walks of life to come together. As they search for Scrim, they hand out supplies to people in need. “Being a member of the community is seeing problems and doing what you can to make life a little better for the people around here and the animals around you,” Brown said. Neighbor Tammy Murray had to close her furniture store and lost her father to Parkinson's disease. This search, she says, got her mojo back. “Literally, for months, I’ve done nothing but hunt this dog,” said Murray, 53. “I feel like Wile E. Coyote on a daily basis with him.” Murray drives the Zeus' Rescues van toward reported Scrim sightings. She also handles a tactical net launcher, which looks like an oversized flashlight and once misfired, shattering the van's window as Scrim sped away. After realizing Scrim came to recognize the sound of the van's diesel engine, Murray switched to a Vespa scooter for stealth. Michelle Cheramie, director of Zeus' Rescues, left, walks with Scrim on Oct. 24 at the Metairie Small Animal Hospital in Metairie, La. Near-misses have been tantalizing. The search party spotted Scrim napping beneath an elevated house, and wrapped construction netting around the perimeter, but an over-eager volunteer broke ranks and dashed forward, leaving an opening Scrim slipped through. Scrim's repeated escapades prompted near-daily local media coverage and a devoted online following. Cheramie can relate. “We’re all running from something or to something," she said. "He's doing that, too.” Cheramie's team dreams of placing the pooch in a safe and loving environment. But a social media chorus growing under the hashtag #FreeScrim has other ideas — they say the runaway should be allowed a life of self-determination. The animal rescue volunteers consider that misguided. “The streets of New Orleans are not the place for a dog to be free,” Cheramie said. “It’s too dangerous.” Scrim rests in a kennel Oct. 24 at the Metairie Small Animal Hospital in Metairie, La. Scrim was a mess when Cheramie briefly recaptured him in October, with matted fur, missing teeth and a tattered ear. His trembling body was scraped and bruised, and punctured by projectiles. A vet removed one, but decided against operating to take out a possible bullet. The dog initially appeared content indoors, sitting in Cheramie's lap or napping beside her bed. Then while she was out one day, Scrim chewed through a mesh screen, dropped 13 feet to the ground and squeezed through a gap in the fence, trotting away. Murray said Cheramie's four cats probably spooked him. Cheramie thinks they may have gotten territorial. Devastated but undeterred, the pair is reassessing where Scrim might fit best — maybe a secure animal sanctuary with big outdoor spaces where other dogs can keep him company. Somewhere, Murray says, “where he can just breathe and be.” Scrim sits in the arms of Zoey Ponder on Oct. 24 at Metairie Small Animal Hospital in Metairie. Scrim at the Terrebonne Parish Animal Shelter in Louisiana. A Scrim sticker for sale Dec. 9 at Zeus' Rescues office to raise money for the shelter in New Orleans. A homemade portrait of Scrim hangs Dec. 9 in the Zeus' Rescues shelter in New Orleans. Scrim spends some time outside Oct. 24 with Michelle Cheramie, director of Zeus' Rescues, in a fenced-in area at Metairie Small Animal Hospital in Metairie. Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly!BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's de facto leader said Sunday it could take up to four years to hold elections in Syria, and that he plans to dissolve his Islamist group that led the country's insurgency at an anticipated national dialogue summit for the country. Ahmad al-Sharaa, who leads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the group leading the new authority in Syria, made the remarks in an interview with Saudi television network Al-Arabiyya. It comes almost a month after a lightning insurgency led by HTS overthrew President Bashar Assad's decades-long rule, ending the country's uprising-turned civil war that started back in 2011. Al-Sharaa said it would take time to hold elections because of the need for Syria's different forces to hold political dialogue and rewrite the country's constitution following five decades of the Assad dynasty's dictatorial rule. Also, the war-torn country's battered infrastructure needs to be reconstructed, he said. “The chance we have today doesn’t come every 5 or 10 years,” said al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani. “We want the constitution to last for the longest time possible.” Al-Sharaa is Syria's de facto leader until March 1, when Syria's different factions are set to hold a political dialogue to determine the country's political future and establish a transitional government that brings the divided country together. There, he said, HTS will dissolve after years of being the country's most dominant rebel group that held a strategic enclave in the country's northwest. Earlier, an Israeli airstrike in the outskirts of Damascus on Sunday killed 11 people, according to a war monitor, as Israel continues to target Syrian weapons and military infrastructure even after the ouster of Assad. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the airstrike targeted a weapons depot that belonged to Assad’s forces near the industrial town of Adra, northeast of the capital. The observatory said at least 11 people, mostly civilians, were killed. The Israeli military did not comment on the airstrike Sunday. Israel, which has launched hundreds of airstrikes over Syria since the country's uprising turned-civil war broke out in 2011, rarely acknowledges them. It says its targets are Iran-backed groups that backed Assad. Unlike his criticism of key Assad ally Iran, al-Sharaa hoped to maintain “strategic relations” with Russia, whose air force played a critical role in keeping Assad in power for over a decade during the conflict. Moscow has a strategic airbase in Syria. The HTS leader also said negotiations are ongoing with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in northeastern Syria, and hopes that their armed forces will integrate with the Syrian security agencies. The Kurdish-led group is Washington’s key ally in Syria, where it is heavily involved in targeting sleeper cells belonging to the extremist Islamic State group. Turkish-backed Syrian rebels have been clashing with the SDF even after the insurgency, taking the key city of Manbij, as Ankara hopes to create a buffer zone near its border in northern Syria. The rebels attacked near the strategic northern border town of Kobani, while the SDF shared a video of a rocket attack that destroyed what it said was a radar system south of the city of Manbij. In other developments: — Syrian state-run media said a mass grave was found near the third largest city of Homs. SANA said civil defense workers were sent to to the site in al-Kabo, one of many suspected mass graves where tens of thousands of Syrians are believed to have been buried during a brutal crackdown under Assad and his network of security agencies. — An Egyptian activist wanted by Cairo on charges of incitement to violence and terrorism, Abdulrahman al-Qardawi, was detained by Lebanese security forces after crossing the porous border from Syria, according to two judicial and one security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to to talk to the press. Al-Qardawi is an Egyptian activist residing in Turkey and an outspoken critic of Egypt's government. He had reportedly visited Syria to join celebrations after Assad's downfall. His late father, Youssef al-Qaradawi, was a top and controversial Egyptian cleric revered by the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. He had lived in exile in Qatar for decades. — Lebanese security forces apprehended an armed group in the northern city of Tripoli that kidnapped a group of 26 Syrians who were recently smuggled into Lebanon, two Lebanese security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share the information with the media. The Syrians included five women and seven children, and security officials are working to return them to Syria.