Carlson Capital Management Sells 20,684 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Carlson Capital Management lowered its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 64.6% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 11,353 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 20,684 shares during the quarter. Carlson Capital Management’s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $658,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WFC. United Services Automobile Association raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 97,906 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,000,000 after purchasing an additional 11,825 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 61.7% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 121,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,983,000 after buying an additional 46,525 shares during the last quarter. Slagle Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 97.3% in the 4th quarter. Slagle Financial LLC now owns 138,594 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,822,000 after purchasing an additional 68,356 shares in the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter worth $2,499,000. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 152,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,805,000 after purchasing an additional 21,496 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on WFC. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Monday, April 15th. Compass Point reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $58.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.99.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Wells Fargo & Company stock traded up $1.18 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $59.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,440,684 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,251,977. Wells Fargo & Company has a twelve month low of $38.38 and a twelve month high of $62.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $59.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.74.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $20.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.19 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.63% and a return on equity of 12.30%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.23 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th were issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Wells Fargo & Company’s payout ratio is presently 29.23%.

Wells Fargo & Company Company Profile

Wells Fargo & Company, a financial services company, provides diversified banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Consumer Banking and Lending; Commercial Banking; Corporate and Investment Banking; and Wealth and Investment Management.