Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Position Boosted by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 3.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 137,747 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,335 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $7,984,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in WFC. Fruth Investment Management boosted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 3.2% in the first quarter. Fruth Investment Management now owns 6,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $377,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Lazari Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. now owns 22,804 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,122,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the period. Webster Bank N. A. boosted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2.0% in the first quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 10,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $588,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the period. First Financial Corp IN boosted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 4,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $226,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional boosted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 20,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $998,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WFC has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $59.00 to $61.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. HSBC raised their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $63.00 price target (up from $57.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Thirteen 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.52.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WFC traded down $3.62 during trading on Friday, reaching $56.54. The stock had a trading volume of 52,886,277 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,429,305. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52 week low of $38.38 and a 52 week high of $62.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $197.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.73.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.08. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.63% and a return on equity of 12.30%. The company had revenue of $20.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors 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 yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.23%.

Wells Fargo & 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.