Highline Wealth Partners LLC Grows Holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 1.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 156 shares during the period. Highline Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $992,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $3,365,658,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 932.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,734,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,105,218,000 after purchasing an additional 14,210,193 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 7,887.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,393,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $243,589,000 after purchasing an additional 3,350,605 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 34,339,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,411,992,000 after purchasing an additional 3,307,855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $198,801,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $72.31 on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $50.15 and a 1 year high of $81.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $71.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.87. The company has a market cap of $235.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.44, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.16. 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 (NYSE:WFC) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. Wells Fargo & Company’s revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $88.00 to $78.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective (up from $75.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $73.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.