CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. Purchases Shares of 4,500 Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Key Points

• CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. acquired 4,500 shares of Wells Fargo & Company, valued at approximately $323,000, indicating renewed investor interest in the financial services provider.
• Wells Fargo recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.40 to $0.45, reflecting a healthy dividend yield of 2.3%.
• Analysts have mixed views on the stock, with ten giving it a Buy rating and a median target price of $82.56, while Phillip Securities downgraded it from a "strong-buy" to a "moderate buy" rating.

CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 4,500 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $323,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WFC. Motco boosted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 397.6% in the 1st quarter. Motco now owns 408 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. 75.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on WFC shares. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Cowen reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $82.56.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

WFC stock traded up $0.25 during trading on Monday, hitting $79.21. The stock had a trading volume of 17,105,057 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,669,898. The company's 50 day moving average price is $80.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.01. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $50.22 and a 1-year high of $84.83. The stock has a market cap of $253.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.84.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last announced 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. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 16.82% and a return on equity of 12.29%. The firm had revenue of $20.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.33 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th were given a $0.45 dividend. This is a boost from Wells Fargo & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio is 30.82%.

Wells Fargo & Company 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.