SFE Investment Counsel Purchases Shares of 3,399 Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

SFE Investment Counsel bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 3,399 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in WFC. John W. Brooker & Co. CPAs boosted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. John W. Brooker & Co. CPAs now owns 7,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $420,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the period. McAdam LLC boosted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 3.3% during the second quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 5,609 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $333,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.0% during the second quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $560,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 13.0% in the 1st quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 1,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 5,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $350,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WFC. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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 research report on Thursday, July 11th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Wells Fargo & Company to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Twelve 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.29.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 5.0 %

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $54.01 on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $38.38 and a 1 year high of $62.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market cap of $188.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.09, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $57.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.88.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.04. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.30% and a net margin of 15.17%. The business had revenue of $20.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This is an increase from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is currently 32.85%.

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.