PointState Capital LP Makes New Investment in Wells Fargo & Company $WFC

Key Points

• PointState Capital LP acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company, purchasing 294,085 shares valued at approximately $21.1 million during the first quarter.
• Wells Fargo recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.45 per share, reflecting a positive change from its previous dividend of $0.40.
• Research analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Wells Fargo, with an average target price of $82.56 per share.

PointState Capital LP acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 294,085 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $21,112,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Motco grew its stake 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. Stone House Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WFC shares. Evercore ISI restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $82.56.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Down 3.5%

Shares of WFC opened at $78.98 on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $50.22 and a 1-year high of $84.83. The company has a 50-day moving average of $80.54 and a 200 day moving average of $75.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $253.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.52, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.25. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $20.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.33 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter 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 year.

Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. This is a positive change from Wells Fargo & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. 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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