Peoples Financial Services CORP. Sells 611 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Peoples Financial Services CORP. lessened its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 4.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 611 shares during the quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP.’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $941,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2,735,254.3% in the second quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 949,769,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $76,095,550,000 after acquiring an additional 949,735,001 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 277.4% in the first 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 acquiring an additional 7,894,919 shares during the period. Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the first quarter valued at approximately $109,643,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 34.6% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 5,307,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $381,016,000 after acquiring an additional 1,365,629 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 30.5% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,926,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $353,668,000 after acquiring an additional 1,152,181 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.97.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of WFC opened at $85.01 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $272.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.25. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $54.40 and a 1-year high of $86.65. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $80.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.97. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 16.82% and a return on equity of 12.29%. The business’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. This is a boost from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is 30.82%.

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.