Aberdeen Group plc Boosts Holdings in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Aberdeen Group plc grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 10.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,361,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 125,012 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $109,053,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 2.3% in the second quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $870,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 51.0% in the second quarter. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 10,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $807,000 after buying an additional 3,400 shares during the last quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 240.9% in the second quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 12,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $981,000 after buying an additional 8,649 shares during the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 7.4% in the second quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 12,750 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,022,000 after buying an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Monument Capital Management raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.4% in the second quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 10,099 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $809,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 4th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Wells Fargo & Company from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $87.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, September 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.41.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Shares of WFC opened at $77.74 on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $58.42 and a 1-year high of $86.65. The stock has a market cap of $249.04 billion, a PE ratio of 13.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.51. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.13. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 16.82% and a return on equity of 12.29%. The business had revenue of $20.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.83 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.33 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. 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 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.