Advisors Capital Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Key Points

• Advisors Capital Management LLC has reduced its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 2.9%, holding now 720,931 shares valued at approximately $51.76 million.
• Brokerages have mixed ratings on Wells Fargo, with Piper Sandler and Evercore ISI maintaining "overweight" and "outperform" ratings, while Phillip Securities downgraded its rating to "moderate buy."
• Wells Fargo recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.40 to $0.45, resulting in an annualized dividend of $1.80 and a yield of 2.2%.

Advisors Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 2.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 720,931 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 21,330 shares during the quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC's holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $51,756,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WFC. Motco boosted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 397.6% in the first quarter. Motco now owns 408 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the first quarter worth about $29,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the first quarter worth about $34,000. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the first quarter worth about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WFC. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Evercore ISI restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Phillip Securities downgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a "hold" rating and a $83.00 price target on the stock. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wells Fargo & Company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $82.56.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

NYSE WFC opened at $80.29 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $257.20 billion, a PE ratio of 13.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.25. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $80.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.09. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $50.22 and a 1-year high of $84.83. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $20.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.83 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.29% and a net margin of 16.82%.The business's quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is a boost from Wells Fargo & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.82%.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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.

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