RiverFront Investment Group LLC Takes Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

RiverFront Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 116,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,927,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Slagle Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 97.3% in the fourth quarter. Slagle Financial LLC now owns 138,594 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,822,000 after purchasing an additional 68,356 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 35,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,074,000 after buying an additional 1,835 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 16.4% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 152,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,805,000 after acquiring an additional 21,496 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 28.9% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 473,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,441,000 after acquiring an additional 106,260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 154.2% in the first quarter. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,578,000 after acquiring an additional 16,515 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of WFC stock opened at $55.42 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $193.21 billion, a PE ratio of 11.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.16. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $38.38 and a 1 year high of $62.55. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $20.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.29 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.30% and a net margin of 15.17%. Wells Fargo & Company’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS. Research analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. This is an increase from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.85%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WFC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $68.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $62.00 to $59.00 in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 6th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.24.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.