Certuity LLC Acquires 2,278 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Certuity LLC raised its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 0.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 306,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,278 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company makes up about 1.4% of Certuity LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. Certuity LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $18,209,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WFC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,623,044,000. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 26,319,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,295,459,000 after purchasing an additional 263,176 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 25,218,016 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,241,231,000 after purchasing an additional 781,772 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 18,941,772 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $932,352,000 after purchasing an additional 596,521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,905,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $290,690,000 after purchasing an additional 25,896 shares during the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on WFC shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $62.00 to $59.00 in a report on Friday, August 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.29.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

WFC stock opened at $54.00 on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12 month low of $38.38 and a 12 month high of $62.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $188.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $57.31 and a 200-day moving average of $57.93.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.04. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.17% and a return on equity of 12.30%. The business had revenue of $20.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.25 earnings per share. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This is a positive change from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.96%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is presently 32.85%.

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.