Abound Wealth Management Raises Stock Holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Abound Wealth Management grew its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 24.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 423 shares during the quarter. Abound Wealth Management’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $157,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Optas LLC lifted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 104.1% in the first quarter. Optas LLC now owns 12,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $922,000 after acquiring an additional 6,548 shares in the last quarter. Asio Capital LLC lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.3% during the first quarter. Asio Capital LLC now owns 49,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,546,000 after buying an additional 629 shares during the period. D Orazio & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the first quarter worth about $238,000. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.6% during the first quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 66,624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,783,000 after buying an additional 391 shares during the period. Finally, Prentice Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.7% during the first quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $688,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

WFC stock opened at $72.31 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $50.15 and a 1 year high of $81.50. The firm has a market cap of $235.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.87.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.16. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. The firm had revenue of $20.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. Wells Fargo & Company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan 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 plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America increased their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a “hold” rating and a $83.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective (up from $75.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Seven research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.68.

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.