Vise Technologies Inc. Makes New $15.88 Million Investment in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 192,201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $15,884,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,512,563,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,364,923,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the second quarter valued at approximately $859,431,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the second quarter valued at approximately $729,502,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the second quarter worth approximately $620,861,000. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WFC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $98.00 to $94.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.61.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of WFC stock opened at $84.70 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $86.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.85. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $72.78 and a 1-year high of $97.76. The company has a market cap of $256.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.92. 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 (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $22.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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. On average, research analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

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