Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires Shares of 7,512,840 Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Key Points

• Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management acquired 7.5 million Wells Fargo shares worth approximately $620.9 million, representing about 0.25% of the company. Institutional investors collectively own 75.9% of WFC.
• Analysts maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average price target of $98.61; several firms recently raised their targets, including Bank of America to $102.
• Wells Fargo exceeded quarterly expectations with $1.96 in EPS and $22.62 billion in revenue, while increasing its quarterly dividend from $0.45 to $0.50 per share.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 7,512,840 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $620,861,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.25% of Wells Fargo & Company as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WFC. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 62.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 66,233 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,652,000 after buying an additional 25,436 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC grew its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 12.9% during the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 22,904 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,835,000 after buying an additional 2,615 shares in the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 111.0% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 14,008 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,122,000 after acquiring an additional 7,368 shares during the last quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 3,229 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 51.2% during the 2nd quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 25,718 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,044,000 after acquiring an additional 8,714 shares in the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on WFC shares. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Raymond James Financial restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Friday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $93.50 to $95.50 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $98.61.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

WFC opened at $83.83 on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 12-month low of $72.78 and a 12-month high of $97.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $86.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.97. The company has a market capitalization of $253.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.18, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.92.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $22.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.86 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 17.55%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.60 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Wells Fargo & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Wells Fargo & Company's payout ratio is 29.07%.

Wells Fargo & Company Company Profile

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified, U.S.-based financial services company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1852 by Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, the firm has evolved from its origins in express delivery and pioneer-era banking into one of the largest full-service banks in the United States. The company provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual, small business, commercial, and institutional clients. Charles W. Scharf serves as chief executive officer.

Wells Fargo operates across several core business segments, including consumer banking and lending, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management.

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