Carlson Capital Management Buys 370 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Carlson Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,016 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the quarter. Carlson Capital Management’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $774,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the third quarter valued at $275,000. Claro Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 15.6% in the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 16,109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $910,000 after buying an additional 2,173 shares in the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the third quarter valued at $513,000. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the third quarter valued at $5,764,000. Finally, Aviso Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 47.8% in the third quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 16,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $937,000 after buying an additional 5,368 shares in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

WFC opened at $70.88 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $233.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.17, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $75.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $69.11. Wells Fargo & Company has a twelve month low of $50.15 and a twelve month high of $81.50.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $20.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.58 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 12.38%. The company’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on WFC. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Compass Point raised their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Company Profile

Wells Fargo & Co is a diversified and community-based financial services company, which engages in the provision of banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth and Investment Management.