Northeast Financial Consultants Inc Increases Holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Northeast Financial Consultants Inc lifted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 13.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 615 shares during the period. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WFC. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,365,658,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 932.0% in 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 buying an additional 14,210,193 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $117,026,000. Finally, North Reef Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 144.3% in the 4th quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 2,125,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $149,260,000 after buying an additional 1,255,000 shares during the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WFC. Citigroup cut their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $88.00 to $78.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.34.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of WFC stock opened at $76.17 on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $50.15 and a 1 year high of $81.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.35. The company has a market cap of $247.87 billion, a PE ratio of 14.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.13.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.16. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 15.73%. The business had revenue of $20.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, April 29th that permits the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.73%.

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.