Appleton Partners Inc. MA Increases Stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA lifted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 25.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,232 shares during the quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $797,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Denver Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Denver Wealth Management Inc. now owns 5,722 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $411,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 2,789,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $200,246,000 after buying an additional 164,607 shares during the period. Congress Park Capital LLC increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC now owns 32,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,308,000 after buying an additional 2,391 shares during the period. Advisor Resource Council acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 1st quarter worth approximately $326,000. Finally, Segment Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,157 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $945,000 after buying an additional 224 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE WFC opened at $75.33 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 50-day moving average of $72.42 and a 200-day moving average of $72.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $245.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.16.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $20.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.82 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.15% and a net margin of 16.19%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is 28.73%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WFC. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, 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. Seven 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.98.

Wells Fargo & 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.