West Family Investments Inc. Invests $827,000 in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

West Family Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 10,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $827,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WFC. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter worth $4,512,563,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 37,421,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,487,687,000 after buying an additional 1,760,484 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,197,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,975,600,000 after buying an additional 188,186 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 20,625,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,922,257,000 after buying an additional 2,369,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the second quarter worth about $1,364,923,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group decreased their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $105.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Phillip Securities upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.61.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 0.0%

WFC stock opened at $83.83 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52-week low of $72.78 and a 52-week high of $97.76. The company has a 50-day moving average of $86.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $82.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $253.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.92.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $22.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.86 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 17.55%.The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 7.26 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is 29.07%.

About Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified, U.S.-based financial services company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1852 by Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, the firm has evolved from its origins in express delivery and pioneer-era banking into one of the largest full-service banks in the United States. The company provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual, small business, commercial, and institutional clients. Charles W. Scharf serves as chief executive officer.

Wells Fargo operates across several core business segments, including consumer banking and lending, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management.