First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 76.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,581,163 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 683,830 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Wells Fargo & were worth $88,008,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Alexandria Capital LLC raised its position 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 valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 6 shares during the period. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Wells Fargo & during the first quarter valued at about $124,000. Gradient Investments LLC raised its position 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 valued at $139,000 after buying an additional 921 shares during the period. Winch Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Wells Fargo & by 0.7% in the first quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $153,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Wells Fargo & by 9.4% in the first quarter. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,003 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $167,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.05% of the company’s stock.
Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE WFC) traded down 0.75% on Friday, hitting $51.77. The stock had a trading volume of 15,307,840 shares. Wells Fargo & Company has a one year low of $43.55 and a one year high of $59.99. The company has a market cap of $256.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.75 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $53.60 and its 200-day moving average is $54.71.
Wells Fargo & (NYSE:WFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.05. The firm 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post $4.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Wells Fargo & announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $11.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 4.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This is a positive change from Wells Fargo &’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo &’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.42%.
A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WFC. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Wells Fargo & from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 12th. Jefferies Group LLC restated a “hold” rating and set a $62.00 price target on shares of Wells Fargo & in a research note on Monday, May 8th. Vetr lowered Wells Fargo & from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $57.21 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “buy” rating and set a $62.00 price target on shares of Wells Fargo & in a research note on Friday, June 23rd. Finally, BidaskClub upgraded Wells Fargo & from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. The company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.83.
In other Wells Fargo & news, insider Petros G. Pelos sold 24,708 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael J. Loughlin sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.16, for a total value of $1,043,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $365.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 131,278 shares of company stock valued at $6,940,120. 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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