Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) Position Increased by Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC

Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 8.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,920 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,212 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & makes up about 1.1% of Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & were worth $2,388,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rocky Mountain Advisers LLC increased its stake in Wells Fargo & by 117.6% in the fourth quarter. Rocky Mountain Advisers LLC now owns 1,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $102,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Alexandria Capital LLC increased its stake in Wells Fargo & by 0.3% in the first quarter. Alexandria Capital LLC now owns 1,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $102,000 after buying an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Brick & Kyle Associates increased its stake in Wells Fargo & by 9.5% in the first quarter. Brick & Kyle Associates now owns 1,859 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $103,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & during the first quarter worth $124,000. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC increased its stake in Wells Fargo & by 58.6% in the first quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 2,494 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $139,000 after buying an additional 921 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.85% of the company’s stock.

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE WFC) opened at 52.84 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $262.44 billion, a PE ratio of 13.01 and a beta of 0.95. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $43.55 and a 1-year high of $59.99. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $54.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.11.

Wells Fargo & (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $22.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.23 billion. Wells Fargo & had a return on equity of 12.65% and a net margin of 23.25%. Wells Fargo &’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post $4.17 EPS for the current year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 4th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This is a positive change from Wells Fargo &’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 2nd. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.95%. Wells Fargo &’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.42%.

Wells Fargo & declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 28th that allows the company to buyback $11.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 4.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Wells Fargo & from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 12th. Jefferies Group LLC reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $62.00 target price on shares of Wells Fargo & in a research report on Monday, May 8th. Instinet cut their target price on Wells Fargo & from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. Vetr downgraded Wells Fargo & from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $57.21 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $62.00 target price on shares of Wells Fargo & in a research report on Friday, June 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Wells Fargo & currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.87.

In other Wells Fargo & news, insider Petros G. Pelos sold 24,708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.07, for a total transaction of $1,335,961.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider David M. Carroll sold 27,582 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.28, for a total value of $1,469,568.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 131,278 shares of company stock valued at $6,940,120 in the last ninety days. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Wells Fargo &

Wells Fargo & Company is a bank holding company. The Company is a diversified financial services company. It has three operating segments: Community Banking, Wholesale Banking, and Wealth and Investment Management. The Company offers its services under three categories: personal, small business and commercial.

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