Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Position Raised by Vicus Capital

Vicus Capital raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 7.7% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,591 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 471 shares during the quarter. Vicus Capital’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $382,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,623,044,000. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 40.4% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 9,308,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $458,162,000 after purchasing an additional 2,677,050 shares in the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 103.7% in the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 3,833,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $189,684,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951,477 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 42.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,780,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $285,668,000 after acquiring an additional 1,729,132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 91.5% in the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,503,169 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $172,426,000 after acquiring an additional 1,673,917 shares in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Argus boosted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $62.00 price target (up from $56.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $59.00 to $61.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.15.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of WFC stock traded up $1.97 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $59.39. 31,074,465 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,610,088. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $38.38 and a fifty-two week high of $62.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $207.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.17. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $59.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $20.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.19 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.30% and a net margin of 15.63%. Wells Fargo & Company’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.23 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.23%.

Wells Fargo & Company Company Profile

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.