Wealth Alliance Boosts Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Wealth Alliance boosted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 8.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,602 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,197 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $768,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. First Financial Corp IN raised its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 4,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the period. CX Institutional raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 20,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $998,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the period. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,733 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $331,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the period. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership now owns 14,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $704,000 after buying an additional 233 shares during the period. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 1,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $56.40 on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $36.40 and a 1-year high of $58.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $199.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.77, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $55.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.55.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.10. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.30% and a net margin of 15.63%. The firm had revenue of $20.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.23 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 4.86 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 1st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.48%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WFC shares. Raymond James raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Argus raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. HSBC raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $62.00 price objective (up previously from $56.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.85.

About Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company, a financial services company, provides diversified banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Consumer Banking and Lending; Commercial Banking; Corporate and Investment Banking; and Wealth and Investment Management.