Motco Acquires 326 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Motco grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 397.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 408 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 326 shares during the period. Motco’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $29,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WFC. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 34,339,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,411,992,000 after acquiring an additional 3,307,855 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 20,369,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,430,742,000 after acquiring an additional 238,131 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 932.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,734,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,105,218,000 after acquiring an additional 14,210,193 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,914,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $977,338,000 after acquiring an additional 62,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 277.4% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,740,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $771,092,000 after acquiring an additional 7,894,919 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 0.4%

WFC stock opened at $84.25 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.61. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $50.15 and a fifty-two week high of $84.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $274.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.16.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.13. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.29% and a net margin of 16.82%. The business had revenue of $20.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.33 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program 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 repurchase up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.40%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on WFC shares. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. TD Cowen started coverage on Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a “hold” rating and a $83.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Raymond James Financial lowered Wells Fargo & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.39.

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.