Cooper Financial Group Acquires 2,282 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Cooper Financial Group increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 40.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,282 shares during the quarter. Cooper Financial Group’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $567,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 10.7% in 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 buying an additional 3,307,855 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.2% in 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 buying an additional 238,131 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,105,218,000 after purchasing an additional 14,210,193 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $977,338,000 after purchasing an additional 62,099 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $771,092,000 after purchasing an additional 7,894,919 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Raymond James Financial downgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of WFC opened at $77.78 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $249.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.20. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $50.22 and a 1 year high of $84.83. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $20.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.83 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.29% and a net margin of 16.82%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 8th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is an increase from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.82%.

Wells Fargo & Company declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, April 29th that allows the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is 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.