Longbow Finance SA Increases Stake in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Longbow Finance SA increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 21.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 148,726 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,355 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company accounts for approximately 1.2% of Longbow Finance SA’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Longbow Finance SA’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $12,466,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFC. Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 472.4% during the third quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the period. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Kilter Group LLC bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Aventus Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the third quarter worth $37,000. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WFC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $99.00 to $99.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $102.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.29.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

NYSE:WFC opened at $86.18 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $270.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.09. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $58.42 and a 1-year high of $97.76. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $91.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $85.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $11.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.63 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 17.27% and a return on equity of 12.90%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.43 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 6th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 28.71%.

Wells Fargo & Company Profile

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified, U.S.-based financial services company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1852 by Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, the firm has evolved from its origins in express delivery and pioneer-era banking into one of the largest full-service banks in the United States. The company provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual, small business, commercial, and institutional clients. Charles W. Scharf serves as chief executive officer.

Wells Fargo operates across several core business segments, including consumer banking and lending, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management.