Dorsey Wright & Associates Buys Shares of 27,517 Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Dorsey Wright & Associates bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 27,517 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,975,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 1st quarter valued at $408,000. RKL Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 166.4% in the first quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,185 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $588,000 after acquiring an additional 5,113 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 651,808 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $45,783,000 after purchasing an additional 70,104 shares in the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated bought a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the first quarter worth about $215,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 30.5% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,926,423 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $353,668,000 after purchasing an additional 1,152,181 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.90% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on WFC shares. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $82.00 to $73.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Dbs Bank raised shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed 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. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $80.39.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock traded up $0.16 on Thursday, hitting $83.86. 19,021,483 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,612,372. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $77.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $272.91 billion, a PE ratio of 14.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.16. Wells Fargo & Company has a one year low of $50.15 and a one year high of $84.83.

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. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.29% and a net margin of 16.82%. The firm had revenue of $20.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.33 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. Wells Fargo & Company's payout ratio is 27.40%.

Wells Fargo & Company declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, April 29th that permits the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 17.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wells Fargo & 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.