Alyeska Investment Group L.P. Invests $53.98 Million in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 768,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $53,976,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Investment Counsel Co. of Nevada purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 126.7% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE WFC opened at $73.76 on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $50.15 and a 12-month high of $81.50. The company has a market cap of $240.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.87.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $20.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.82 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 12.38%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.20 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 29th that allows the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 17.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is currently 28.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Raymond James lowered their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $88.00 to $78.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America cut their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.34.

Wells Fargo & Company Company Profile

Wells Fargo & Co is a diversified and community-based financial services company, which engages in the provision of banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth and Investment Management.