BluePath Capital Management LLC Invests $300,000 in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 5,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $300,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WFC. Slagle Financial LLC raised its holdings in 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 valued at $6,822,000 after acquiring an additional 68,356 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 35,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,074,000 after purchasing an additional 1,835 shares during the period. Trust Point Inc. purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,499,000. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 16.4% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 152,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,805,000 after buying an additional 21,496 shares in the last quarter. Finally, G2 Capital Management LLC OH purchased a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth approximately $278,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company’s stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WFC traded down $0.38 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $60.59. The company had a trading volume of 6,698,813 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,370,920. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12 month low of $38.38 and a 12 month high of $62.55. The stock has a market cap of $211.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.66, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.30.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.10. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.63% and a return on equity of 12.30%. The company had revenue of $20.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on WFC shares. Argus raised their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $59.00 to $61.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.36.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.