First Financial Corp IN Increases Holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

First Financial Corp IN raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 36.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,691 shares during the quarter. First Financial Corp IN’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Lazari Capital Management Inc. grew 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 valued at $1,122,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. CX Institutional grew its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.1% in 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. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 6,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $332,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $278,000 after buying an additional 224 shares during the period. Finally, ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,733 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $331,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Argus raised their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Monday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Compass Point reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Fourteen 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.15.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of WFC traded down $0.21 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $56.99. The company had a trading volume of 6,854,781 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,310,793. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $38.38 and a 1 year high of $62.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.92.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.10. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.63% and a return on equity of 12.30%. The company had revenue of $20.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.23 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th were issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.