Williams Financial LLC Makes New $829,000 Investment in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Williams Financial LLC bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 14,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $829,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Slagle Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 97.3% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 5.4% in the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 35,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,074,000 after acquiring an additional 1,835 shares in the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 5.2% in the first quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 38,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,256,000 after acquiring an additional 1,911 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 16.4% in the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 152,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,805,000 after acquiring an additional 21,496 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 61.7% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 41,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,031,000 after acquiring an additional 15,742 shares in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:WFC traded up $0.76 on Friday, reaching $55.33. 19,173,886 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,122,936. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.21. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52 week low of $38.38 and a 52 week high of $62.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $192.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 12th. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.04. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.30% and a net margin of 15.17%. The firm had revenue of $20.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.29 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th. This is a boost from Wells Fargo & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. Wells Fargo & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Wells Fargo & Company to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $59.00 to $61.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price (down previously from $70.00) on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.63.

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.