Northeast Financial Consultants Inc Buys 615 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Northeast Financial Consultants Inc lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 13.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 615 shares during the period. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 190,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,369,000 after buying an additional 30,510 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 8,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $583,000 after buying an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. NatWest Group plc increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 57.7% during the 4th quarter. NatWest Group plc now owns 172,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,115,000 after buying an additional 63,102 shares in the last quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,656,000. Finally, Modera Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,444,000 after purchasing an additional 2,548 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Shares of WFC opened at $76.17 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $247.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.13. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $50.15 and a fifty-two week high of $81.50. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.35.

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

Wells Fargo & Company declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, April 29th that allows the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WFC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup lowered their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.34.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.