Brookmont Capital Management Decreases Stock Holdings in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Brookmont Capital Management lessened its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 29.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 49,122 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 20,146 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company makes up approximately 2.3% of Brookmont Capital Management’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Brookmont Capital Management’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $3,936,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WFC. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 2,735,254.3% during the 2nd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 949,769,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $76,095,550,000 after buying an additional 949,735,001 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings 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 valued at $771,092,000 after buying an additional 7,894,919 shares during the period. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the 1st quarter valued at $109,643,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 34.6% during the 1st 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 buying an additional 1,365,629 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 worth $353,668,000 after purchasing an additional 1,152,181 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Shares of WFC stock opened at $80.94 on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $54.40 and a fifty-two week high of $86.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $259.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.86, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.25. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $80.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.15.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $20.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 period last year, the business posted $1.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were paid a $0.45 dividend. This is a boost from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on WFC. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Dbs Bank upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered Wells Fargo & Company from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $87.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen lowered Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.74.

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.