Virtue Capital Management LLC Acquires New Position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Virtue Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 6,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $468,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 190,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,369,000 after purchasing an additional 30,510 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 8,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $583,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. NatWest Group plc grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 57.7% in the fourth quarter. NatWest Group plc now owns 172,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,115,000 after purchasing 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 in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,656,000. Finally, Modera Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,444,000 after purchasing an additional 2,548 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WFC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $88.00 to $78.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a “hold” rating and a $83.00 price target for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.73.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:WFC opened at $72.86 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $237.09 billion, a PE ratio of 13.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. Wells Fargo & Company has a twelve month low of $50.15 and a twelve month high of $81.50. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.86.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.16. The business 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 was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.73%.

Wells Fargo & Company announced 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 reacquire up to 17.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.