Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Acquires 8,821 Shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Key Points

• Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 4.9%, acquiring an additional 8,821 shares, resulting in a total of 188,564 shares valued at approximately $13.5 million.
• Wells Fargo announced a $40 billion share buyback program, allowing it to repurchase up to 17.2% of its shares, which typically indicates that the board believes the stock is undervalued.
• The company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.54 for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $1.41, with a year-over-year revenue increase of 0.6%.

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 4.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 188,564 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 8,821 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company makes up approximately 0.9% of Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC's holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $13,537,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WFC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the fourth quarter worth $3,365,658,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 932.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,734,874 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,105,218,000 after buying an additional 14,210,193 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 277.4% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,740,934 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $771,092,000 after buying an additional 7,894,919 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 7,887.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,393,083 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $243,589,000 after buying an additional 3,350,605 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 34,339,295 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,411,992,000 after buying an additional 3,307,855 shares during the period. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of WFC stock opened at $83.86 on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company has a one year low of $50.15 and a one year high of $84.83. The stock has a market cap of $272.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $77.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $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.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.33 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company announced that its board has authorized 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Wells Fargo & Company's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WFC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $80.39.

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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